HOLIDAY, Fla. — Pasco County is the latest Tampa Bay government turning to the community for input on how to spend millions in federal hurricane relief funds.

The first public meeting was held Monday night at the J. Ben Harrill Recreation Complex to give residents the chance to weigh in.

“I think this has definitely been the hardest hit that Pasco has had,” said Marcy Esbjerg, senior program administrator with the Office of Disaster Recovery.

Esbjerg said Hurricanes Idalia, Helene and Milton destroyed 800 homes and damaged 7,600 more in the county. One of those belongs to Stacey Van Schenk.

“I’ve never in my life experienced anything like this,” said Van Schenk, a lifelong Tampa Bay resident.

Van Schenk said the gulf took over her neighborhood during Helene, tossing a neighbor’s dock on top of her own and damaging her home with three feet of storm surge.

“My bottom floor is a shell,” she said. “I have severe structural damage to my property, and I didn’t have flood insurance. So, now I’m trying to get with FEMA to get assistance, and I’m getting nowhere.”

Van Schenk said she came to the meeting to find out if the funds could help her.

“Do you pay it back? Is it a gift? What’s the terms of it? I mean, I’ll work really hard to pay it back, but I have to get the funds. My house is literally settling, and I’ve got to do remediation,” she said.

Esbjerg said hearing from people like Van Schenk will help the county put together an action plan for the money. It’s meant to help with unmet needs — what insurance, FEMA and other resources didn’t cover. 

Mollyanna Ward also came to the meeting to learn. She said as a member of the Florida Realtors’ task force on affordable and workforce housing, she was particularly interested in what could be done to help in those areas. She noted that the hurricanes made an existing problem worse — lack of workforce housing.

“Sixty percent less than what we should have, at least in our area. So, because of interest rates, because of storms, because of different regulations, there are people who really are needing homes,” said Ward.

Affordable housing was one example officials gave of how the money can be used, along with loans or grants to businesses and infrastructure projects.

The county is asking for residents’ patience, saying details of specific programs will be released in the coming months. 

Van Schenk said for now, she’s taking it day by day and trying not to focus on what she lost.

“I know material items can be replaced — lives can’t. So, I’m OK with that, but I just want my house safe again,” she said.

Part of the requirements of these federal dollars state 70% of the money has to be spent on households and areas that are low-to-moderate income. A program administrator pointed out that still leaves $175 million for people who aren’t in that income category.

The county has more meetings scheduled for the public to give input:

Thursday, April 17 at 6 p.m.

Hudson Regional Library, 8012 Library Rd., Hudson

Monday, April 21 at 6 p.m.

Moore-Mickens Education Center, 38301 Martin Luther King Blvd., Dade City

A virtual meeting is scheduled for May 1. Ideas can also be submitted through an online survey or e-mailed to BetterFuture@mypasco.net.