Lorenzo Turner's Apopka home was damaged when Hurricane Ian hit Central Florida in 2022, with harm to the roof and extensive water damage. A short time later, a health setback left him using a wheelchair. For three years he stayed in the damaged house, catching rainwater in buckets and dealing with soggy, mold-damaged conditions before learning about Orange County Recovers.
Through the program his roof, flooring and walls were replaced, and his kitchen was renovated with new cabinets, countertops and appliances. The home was also made wheelchair accessible, with wider corridors and doorways and a new accessible shower. In February 2026, after staying with family during the work, Turner received the keys to the renovated home.
Orange County Recovers is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery Program and provides grants to low-to-moderate-income homeowners with unresolved damage from Hurricanes Ian and Milton, helping pay for repairs, renovations or replacement of storm-damaged homes. It is open to homeowners throughout Orange County, including those in its municipalities, and the application portal remains open at OrangeCountyRecovers.com. To date the program has completed repairs on 33 hurricane-damaged homes, with 60 more moving forward with construction and another 218 applications in the pipeline. Sherry Julien, project manager with Orange County's Housing & Community Development Division, said seeing homeowners get the keys to a fully renovated home and return to self-sufficiency is meaningful work.
Press release issued by Orange County Government Newsroom:
https://newsroom.ocfl.net/2026/08/homeowner-made-whole-through-orange-county-recovers/
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