Panama City Commission approves changes to the Local Housing Assistance Program

The Panama City Commission voted to approve changes to their Local Housing Assistance Program and to extend those changes until 2022.

The changes in the recovery assistance program from Hurricane Michael and COVID-19 came after the state approved funding for the program. First time buyer down payment assistance went from $25,000 to $50,000. Maximum help for demolition and reconstruction increased from $85,000 to $185,000. The purpose of the program is to allow more people to become home owners and reduce their cost of living.

Mark Mcqueen, the City Manager of Panama City said "it helps folks with rental assistance, it helps with down payment assistance, it helps for rebuilding owner occupied homes and also deposit assistance for utilities, and these are all important for us if we're going to get housing back up and on it's feet."

Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki added "now a good renter can become a great home owner because there are so many opportunities now to be able to buy a home, and it will drive that price down because of the rates so that people that were renting will be able to buy a house possibly cheaper than paying rent."

The changes in the program will direct spending of over 39 million dollars in housing recovery in Panama City and Bay County through 2022.