Johnson announces more funding for West Side homeowners affected by flooding in July 2023

Mayor Brandon Johnson is adding $5 million to the city’s existing flood relief program for West Side residents affected by record-breaking rains last July.

“People have been displaced. They’ve lost furniture, boilers, cars and memories,” Johnson said as he announced the funding Tuesday at a West Side library.

“While the city was never able to replace the valuable items that were lost, we immediately went to work to collaborate with Cook County and the State of Illinois to provide assistance to our residents and mitigate the impact of this disaster,” he added.

The funds will benefit 200 homeowners, mostly seniors, living in single-family, one- or two-unit homes on the West Side. Each recipient can get up to $25,000 in assistance. Only households with total incomes at or below the area median income are eligible.

The city’s flood repair assistance program provides funding to homeowners whose basements were damaged by severe flooding on the West Side in July 2023 after storms dumped 9 inches of rain on the area. Citywide, more than 12,000 reports of flooded basements were filed with 311 in the first two weeks after the storm, according to a WBEZ analysis.

FLOOD-072623_6.jpgAustin resident Jimmy Blaine shows how high floodwater reached in his basement during the first week of July on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. Blaine said his furnace, a shoe collection, a clothes dryer and a PlayStation console were damaged. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times — Austin resident Jimmy Blaine points out how high the floodwaters reached in his basement during the first week of July 2023. Blaine said his furnace, a shoe collection, a clothes dryer and a PlayStation console were damaged.

The $5 million will be used to supplement the $172 million already allocated by FEMA. Johnson announced the funding Tuesday afternoon in Austin at the West Chicago Avenue Public Library, located at 4856 W. Chicago Ave.

Instead of an application process, the city’s housing department will work directly with community leaders and organizations to identify landlords in need.

West Side city councilors and organizations like the Westside Health Authority have already worked with affected residents to distribute FEMA money, said Lissette Castañeda, the housing department’s commissioner.

FLOOD-072623_3.jpgChicago Mayor Brandon Johnson meets with Austin residents Lorri Lockhart (left) and her daughter Lorriel Lockhart (center) along West Walton Street in the Austin neighborhood on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The Lockharts' basement was flooded and their repairs are still underway, they said. Johnson, along with staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC), met with residents affected by the flooding. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson meets with Austin residents Lorri Lockhart (left) and her daughter Lorriel Lockhart (center) along West Walton Street in the Austin neighborhood on July 25, 2023. The Lockharts’ basement flooded during heavy rains earlier this month.

“We are closely connected to the people on the ground who have been doing the work and connecting with the people who needed it most,” Castañeda said in Monday’s announcement.

“We also know that people have already provided information to FEMA and other agencies, so we’re working with that information, which allows us to streamline this process,” she added.

Following this week’s severe storms, 50 to 60 people called the city to report that their basements were flooded, said Randy Conner, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Water Management.