Community Impact reports that in 2023 Montgomery County bought-out 11 homes, 73 homes since 2020, with a goal set at purchasing 50 previously flooded homes in the county.
The funds for the buyout program come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and FEMA. Montgomery County Recovery Manager Morgan Lumbley said that coming in May $13.64 million in funds will come from FEMA’s 2021 Flood Mitigation Assistance program. Buyouts are expected to get underway in November. In the initial application for the program, 28 eligible homes were included.
In home buyout money, Montgomery County has been given about $66 million across four FEMA programs and two programs through HUD. Lumbley said the two programs “are vastly different from each other.”
In a FEMA program, those applicants that are eligible are identified previous to the county applying for the funding. HUD is different, as eligible applicants are identified after the funding is received.
No structure cap exists for FEMA program buyouts–homes can range from $60,000 to $750,000. Lumbley said, “A lot of the low dollar ones came from the 2016 program because the majority of those that were named as part of the application were damaged in Harvey and not rebuilt.”
In regard to HUD grants from the 2015-16 floods, there is a structure cap of $175,000 and $200,000 for Hurricane Harvey. However, homeowners eligible for buyouts can receive up to a $100,000 relocation payment. This is if it was their primary home, and the homeowners are in the low to moderate income range.
