Governor Chet Culver announced a state flood recovery funding plan today.
Governor Chet Culver announced a program today he says will provide up to 20-million dollars for flood recovery.
Culver says the program is called “Iowans Helping Iowans” Culver says “it means we will come together to use state resources to assist people who have been hit hard by severe flooding incidents in the past four months.”
He says the program will focus on housing and business recovery, with Iowans who have lost their homes, or had their homes damaged beyond repair, are eligible for up to $25,000 to purchase a new home.
Homeowners must first register with FEMA and be awarded some form of FEMA housing assistance to be eligible for “Iowans Helping Iowans”.
The home program includes $7.5 million, and the program for business will have the same amount. Culver says the business side will use a forgivable loan program of $7.5 million in existing money for businesses to rebuild. He says the businesses must have received loan approval from an eligible lender in a 2010 disaster program.
Culver says there will be another five million dollars in state funds for “unmet needs.” Culver introduced a program called “Jumpstart Iowa” after the 2008 floods, and was asked why they created a new program instead of continuing the Jumpstart. Culver says the new program is essentially the same and says it’s a “new start a different challenge, just a different flood cycle, we don’t want people to get confused by the two.”
Anyone who lives in a county that is part of the presidential disaster declaration is eligible for the “Iowans Helping Iowans” funding. You can find out more about the program on-line at: Iowans-Helping-Iowans-dot-com (IowansHelpingIowans.com) or by checking with local disaster recovery officials.
The 32 counties covered under the federal disaster declaration are: Black Hawk, Cherokee, Clayton, Decatur, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton, Howard, Humboldt, Ida, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Kossuth, Lee, Lucas, Lyon, Mahaska, Marion, O’Brien, Osceola, Polk, Ringgold, Sioux, Story, Taylor, Union, Warren, Webster, and Wright.