Richland begins to identify which homeowners could get flood buyouts

More than five dozen homeowners whose properties were substantially damaged by October’s historic floods might have the opportunity to sell their houses to the county government thanks to expected federal grants.

Richland County has identified 63 homes eligible to be bought, torn down and turned into permanent green space at an estimated cost of nearly $6 million. Federal grants could pay for about $4.4 million of the cost. But the county still would have to come up with nearly $1.5 million in matching funds for the buyouts.

Thirty-nine of the homes that might be bought out in Richland County are clustered in two groups in the Gills Creek watershed, including in the badly flooded area off South Beltline Boulevard. Another eight are clustered in the Crane Creek watershed, and 16 are scattered. County officials would not identify addresses that could be affected.

But the cost to buy out homes in Richland County would swallow nearly half of the federal money that could possibly be available for home buyouts statewide. And the county does not yet have the money.

Only a quarter of the expected $36 million total in hazard mitigation grants coming to South Carolina from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or about $9 million, can be used for home buyouts in the state, according to guidelines set by the S.C. Emergency Management Division.

The $36 million in FEMA funds must be used for projects to prepare communities for future disasters. Richland County will be competing for a portion of those funds for projects including home and commercial buyouts, stormwater drainage management and flood studies.

The grants could start being distributed on a rolling basis by late April.

Properties qualify for voluntary buyouts if they lie in a special flood hazard area and have been determined by Richland County or FEMA to have been more than 50 percent damaged by floodwaters from the Oct. 4 rains.

If any property owner in a cluster of homes opts not to participate in a government buyout, it does not necessarily shut down the buyout option for other property owners in the cluster, assistant county administrator Kevin Bronson said. But the prospect of broken up green spaces could be less desirable to state officials doling out project money, Bronson said.

Property owners who agree to a buyout could be paid anywhere from the full pre-flood value of their homes to less than 75 percent, depending on what additional funding the county secures. Federal hazard mitigation grants can pay for only 75 percent of a project, and there must be a 25 percent local funding match.

If the county does not receive additional flood relief funds from the state or additional federal funds — which could be months or years away from distribution — property owners could be asked to absorb the remaining 25 percent of the pre-flood home value and cost of acquiring the home. For a home valued at $100,000 before the flood, for instance, a homeowner might receive roughly $68,000 in that buyout scenario.

County officials plan to make personal contact with property owners who are eligible to participate in the buyout program.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Richland begins to identify which homeowners could get flood buyouts."