SC to give mobile homes to poorest survivors of October 2015 flood

Some of the poorest survivors of the historic October 2015 storm could get a brand new home for Christmas.

Before the new year begins, state disaster recovery officials expect to begin giving out the first of the free, 860-square-foot mobile homes to S.C. residents who need them.

Officials plan to eventually deliver 600 or more homes to low- and moderate-income families still homeless or living in housing damaged by the storm, which dropped more than two feet of rain on parts of South Carolina.

“These people have been in need for a long time,” S.C. Disaster Recovery Office spokeswoman Beth Parks said. “For more than a year, they’ve been in these horrible situations and can’t get out on their own.”

Federal recovery dollars will pay for the $60,000 mobile homes, which state officials prefer to call “manufactured homes.”

The state has $96.8 million in federal dollars to spend on getting storm survivors back into adequate housing. Officials say that money could repair or replace roughly 1,500 damaged homes, the bulk of them in hart-hit rural areas like Williamsburg and Georgetown counties.

State officials continue to assess which families still need help. They plan to help the state’s poor, elderly or disabled flooding victims first.

Each mobile home, which can house a family of four, comes with a refrigerator and stove.

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 1:01 PM with the headline "SC to give mobile homes to poorest survivors of October 2015 flood."