Twenty months after promising to use a federal housing grant to help up to 50 low-to-moderate income homeowners repair Hurricane Sally damage, the City of Pensacola has not taken a single application, repaired a single home, or even submitted the required implementation plan to begin the program.
Now, Mayor D.C. Reeves wanted to move $2.3 million of that $5.8 million in federal disaster relief funding to port infrastructure repairs instead—sparking an emotional debate at last Thursday’s city council meeting over broken promises, administrative failures, and what council members called a “bait and switch.”
“It’s About Time We Got This Money”
In May 2024, the council unanimously approved accepting the Florida Commerce Community Development Block Grant award specifically designated for housing rehabilitation after Hurricane Sally. Mayor D.C. Reeves called it at the time a “huge, huge win” to help people “in our most vulnerable state.”
- Councilman Charles Bare, reflecting on his own comments from that meeting, noted: “I said, ‘It’s about time we got this money. Government works slowly. This has been a need throughout our city and county. This is something we definitely need. The faster we get rolled out, the better. I know there are people who are still suffering from Sally.’ That was a little premature, I think.”
Then-interim housing director Meredith Reeves told council that applications would likely begin in late August or September 2024. She encouraged people to call the department to get on the waiting list.
- Twenty months later: nothing.
What Went Wrong
Deputy Administrator Amy Miller laid out the cascade of failures during Thursday’s meeting.
“Unfortunately, we had some significant staff turnover in our housing department during that period of time, and the subject matter expert that we had who was familiar with this program and familiar with implementing these kinds of funds left the city of Pensacola before that plan was ever submitted and ever approved by CDBG and ever approved by HUD,” Miller explained. “So we realistically never got off first base.”…