The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved South Carolina's plan to spend more than $150 million in disaster relief in response to last year's Hurricane Helene, state officials have said.
The plan outlined $1.7 billion in housing needs, according to the South Carolina Office of Resilience. Rental property owners and low- to moderate-income homeowners in 15 counties whose primary residences were impacted by Helene are eligible to apply for the grant money.
The funds can be used for single-family home rehabilitation, replacement and reconstruction; affordable rental housing rehabilitation; voluntary buyouts of houses in the floodplain or that have flooded previously; and mitigation projects to help weather future storms, the Resilience Office said Aug. 1.
It expects to open the application process by the end of September.
Low- and moderate-income residents are defined as people who earn 30% or less than the area median income in their specific counties. The 15 eligible counties are Aiken, Anderson, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Spartanburg, Abbeville, Cherokee, Edgefield, McCormick, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Saluda and Union.
“This approval is a key step in getting much needed disaster recovery assistance to South Carolinians,” said Ben Duncan, the state chief resilience officer, in a statement.
Helene was a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds when it made landfall in Florida's Big Ben region in late September and moved into Georgia and South Carolina. Heavy rains in northern South Carolina before Helene hit led to extreme flooding once the storm crossed the state, officials said in their plan explaining how they would spend the disaster aid.
The Resilience Office said it continues to hold mobile intake events across the affected counties to match residents with resources. Call 803-898-2511 for more information.
