Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program

Reducing the risk of flooding in residential areas is a priority for the State of Florida. Recognizing this, the Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program was created to encourage risk reduction through the purchase of residential property in high flood-risk areas to help reduce the impact of future disasters. Local governments that are within the federal and state designated Most Impacted and Distressed (MID) areas, as shown here, are eligible to apply for funding.

There are two options for cities and counties to apply for assistance under the Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program. The first option is to use the available funding as leverage to match funding for projects that are also eligible for the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The second option is to apply for funding to acquire contiguous parcels of properties, and to acquire property from low- to moderate- income households (LMH) with a focus on LMH that did not have flood insurance at the time of Hurricane Irma.      

Awards for the Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program were announced December 3, 2019 

Awards for 11 communities were announced on December 3, 2019. A list of communities and awards is available here.

Voluntary Home Buyout Documents

Please Note:

Form SF-424 referenced on page three of the Request For Applications is not required to be signed or included as part of the application. SF-424 is a federal form and does not need to be completed at the local level.

The Application Submission Period for the Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program Ended on October 1, 2019.

DEO reviewed the submitted applications. Applications were rated using a scoring method based on benefit to low- and moderate-income persons and vulnerable groups like the disabled and elderly, as well as cost reasonableness and effectiveness, benefit to target areas and other factors described in the Voluntary Home Buyout Program Guidelines. A list of applicants for the Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program is available here.

Voluntary Home Buyout Timeline

  • July 1, 2019: Request for Applications posted.
  • July 16, 2019: Application submission cycle opens and communities have one month to submit applications.
  • Aug. 15, 2019: Original Deadline for communities to submit applications.
  • Oct. 1, 2019: Extended Deadline for communities to submit applications. 
  • December 3, 2019: Awards announced.

Applicant Questions


Questions received from the public and program responses can be viewed here


Interested parties may submit questions by email to RebuildFlorida@deo.myflorida.com. The Office of Long-Term Resiliency will respond and post the questions and responses publicly on this page in a timely manner. Interested parties are encouraged to review the program guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions document before submitting questions.

 Mailing List

  • Sign up for updates about Rebuild Florida assistance for Hurricane Irma-impacted areas here.

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