Home Elevation Grants

How it works

Charleston County says its Building Services team has executed several federal grant-funded projects related to flood mitigation. The page describes a completed project that mitigated repetitive flooding by elevating a home in unincorporated Charleston County.

What the work covers

The county says the program/project is intended to reduce flooding potential during 100-year flood events by elevating structures. It states the proposed project would assist homeowners in elevating the finished floor or lowest horizontal structural member of residential structures built prior to 1985 at or above the defined flood elevation, which the page describes as base flood elevation plus two feet of freeboard.

Funding and benefit

The page says one completed project provided savings for $1,050,000 in damage costs and cites FEMA’s estimated 600% return on investment for natural hazard mitigation.

Timing and status

The page also says the county is conducting a Buyout Program Feasibility Study and that the project is in a pre-award unobligated phase waiting for FEMA funding approval. That means the page describes an active planning/mitigation effort, not a clearly open homeowner application window.

Important limitation

This page is about flood mitigation, not wildfire hardening.