Columbia, SC - The South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) reached a milestone on October 30th, 2024 in its housing recovery program, having repaired, replaced 488 homes for individuals impacted in 2018 by Hurricane Florence. This disaster recovery program is funded with a $72 million US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), as well as $7.3 million in additional leverage funds from the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority.

Of the completed homes, 394 (80%) were in Dillion, Horry and Marion, which were identified as the Most Impacted and Distressed Counties by HUD. Chesterfield, Darlington Florence, Georgetown, and Marlboro Counties were also served. Additionally, over 99% of the homeowners served earned 80% or less of the area median income.

“Following 3 federally declared disasters between 2015 and 2018, impacting much of the same regions of the state, SCOR has strived to identify those South Carolinians who are facing the most significant challenges to their recovery,” explains Chief Resilience Officer Ben Duncan. “SCOR’s disaster case management team guides these citizens through the recovery processes, while we work to efficiently return their homes to a safe, sanitary, and livable condition.”

This milestone continues SCOR’s historical trend of completing work on or ahead of schedule to the benefit of homeowners and ahead of HUD’s 6-year timeline. In the 2015 Severe Storm Program, a total of 1,829 homes were completed, concluding construction in September 2021. The 2016 Hurricane Matthew Program saw the successful completion of 1,142 homes in December 2022. Construction completion in the Hurricane Florence program brings the total homes repaired or replaced by SCOR to 3,459.

About SCOR:

The South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) is committed to enhancing the state's ability to anticipate, absorb, recover, and thrive when presented with environmental changes and natural hazards by planning and coordinating statewide resilience, long-term disaster recovery, and hazard mitigation. In addition to serving 3,459 homes in our Disaster Recovery Program, SCOR has 81 active flood mitigation projects, including voluntary buyouts, stormwater infrastructure and plans and studies, across the State. SCOR continues to implement and maintain the Strategic Statewide Resilience and Risk Reduction Plan, which provides a framework to guide investment in projects, programs, and policies to protect the people and property of South Carolina from the damage and destruction of extreme weather events.