A LOT OF PEOPLE JUST NEED A HAND UP

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development held a seminar Saturday at The Lakeland Center, sponsored by the Polk County Housing and Neighbourhood Development Division, which brought representatives from a wide variety of agencies and organizations to help residents seeking housing aid.

Applications for federal grants and loans to rehab or rebuild homes damaged by last years hurricanes were available. Information was also provided by a wide variety of mortgage companies, non-profit builders, credit counselors, and agencies offering senior citizen funding, rental assistance, and Section 8 programmes.

According to this story in today's Lakeland Ledger, the event brought out thousands of people looking for a hand up after the destruction of last summer. Many roofs throughout Central Florida still have the blue tarps provided by FEMA...those that haven't been torn apart in the months since. And in those cases, rain and mold have added serious damage.

The line resembled one waiting to buy tickets for a major rock tour. The HUD field director told the Ledger that when he arrived to setup at 7:00 AM --- three hours before opening --- there was already a long line to the street. Over 3,000 grant and loan applications were processed to get some of the 40 million dollars which HUD has allocated to Polk, Desoto, and Hardee counties for home ownership and rehab assistance.

For those folks such as moi who didn't learn about the event until it was too late and want to know more, you can get more information about programmes through June 30 by calling toll free 1-866-701-8109.