The city of Fort Lauderdale will hold a free information session on the CDBG-DR disaster recovery program, aimed at homeowners who suffered damage during the flood on April 12, 2023, and who still need guidance to complete or review their funding application.
The event will take place on Saturday, November 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Southside Cultural Arts Center, located at 701 S. Andrews Dr./Ave.
Municipal officials will be available to assist with filling out applications, explaining which documents are required, and checking the status of submitted files.
The assistance is completely free of charge and does not require prior aid to participate. It also does not impose any obligation for making an appointment; however, those who prefer to coordinate a visit in advance can do so through the same phone number.
Those who cannot attend in person or prefer to manage their request online can access the application form in Spanish through the program application portal on the official city website.
This is the second and final mobile event of the series scheduled for 2026: the first took place on October 10 at Mills Pond Park.
The Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program in Fort Lauderdale operates with a federal allocation of $88,051,000.
To be eligible, the applicant must have owned and occupied the home as their primary residence on the day of the disaster, have income within the applicable thresholds based on the category—80% of the area median income for the low-income category, or 120% for urgent need—and keep mortgage and taxes current or under an active payment plan.
The program includes two main pathways: one for repair and reconstruction, with caps of up to $200,000 for repairs and up to $350,000 for total reconstruction; and another for reimbursement of recovery costs already incurred, with a limit of up to $75,000 per beneficiary.
U.S. citizenship or legal permanent residency of the applicant and co-applicant are program requirements, verified through the SAVE system of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The list of required documents is available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, and includes photo identification, proof of ownership and primary residence, income documentation, evidence of disaster-related damages, and current mortgage and tax payments.
This CDBG-DR program is independent of the HOME program offering loans of up to $85,000 for housing rehabilitation that Fort Lauderdale also keeps active.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the city's Action Plan in December 2025, and the programs began to be implemented at the beginning of this year.
The April 2023 flood was the most severe recorded in the history of Fort Lauderdale: nearly 25.91 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. FEMA and the state of Florida evaluations identified 1,095 homes with major damage and 255 with minor damage, with total losses estimated at over 100 million dollars in Broward County.
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