Alphonso Jackson on Homeland Security Secretary of H.U.D.

Made $55M available for Florida’s 2004 hurricane victims

A: Last year’s hurricane season was devastating for Florida. Throughout the storms, HUD worked closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to find housing for those left homeless. Our top priority was to get families back into their homes as quickly as possible. In the weeks immediately following the hurricanes, HUD made about $40 million available to housing agencies in hurricane-damaged areas, to allow them to continue serving those who were affected by the storms. HUD turned over our inventory of vacant, foreclosed homes to FEMA so that they could make them available for hurricane victims. We also made available $15 million in Family Relocation Vouchers for families who were displaced from damaged HUD properties, and we gave communities great flexibility to use their HUD funds for disaster recovery efforts.