PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A little more than $585 million is coming to Pasco County in the form of storm relief.

It’s through the Community Development Block grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The funds will help areas throughout Pasco recover from Hurricanes Idalia, Helene and Milton.

Some homeowners are still building back after the storms.

For six months, Ralph Cramton has been hard at work building back his home, making all sorts of repairs and trims at his saw table.

“We lost all of our furniture, so it’s a matter of replacing,” says Cramton.

Spectrum News first told you about Cramton and his wife’s story in December, as he was repairing their home while he was battling leukemia. Now, progress is being made.

“This is my next project today,” says Cramton, standing next to a windowsill. “I’ve already got this part of the window.”

Walls have been repaired and entire rooms brought back to life.

“I think we’re probably a month or 45 days away from being able to get rid of all the boxes and the plastics and stuff like that,” Cramton said. “Have paint on all of the rooms and kind of be at a point where I can say, ‘I’m going to take the week off and not do any more repair work.’”

County officials say last fall, more than 800 homes were destroyed by hurricanes in Pasco County, prompting the county to apply for a federal grant. The grant goes toward housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization, public services and planning.

“Under infrastructure, we could really work with storm water, water, and different parts of our system that failed during the hurricanes to repair and make them stronger as well as help with critical public facilities,” said Marcy Esbjerg, senior program administrator for the Office of Disaster Recovery Resources.

It’s a boost, Cramton says, for those homeowners who are far more behind in their recovery efforts.

“From a homeowner’s side, there’s a lot of people that I think need a lot of help and so I’d be all for that.”

Seeing the progress that has been made on his home is bringing a new meaning of life to Cramton, too.

“It’s a day at a time,” he says. “Nobody gets more than that and so I just try to make the best and the most.”

Making the most of their situation day-by-day.

The county will be holding public meetings, starting Tuesday in Zephyrhills, for residents to voice their opinions on where the money should go. An action plan needs to be published by the county, outlining how they are going to spend that money. That action plan comes out Monday.