Hollywood, FL USDA Benefits

Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6.14 million people in 2020. As of the 2020 census, the population was 153,067, making it the third-largest city in Broward County, the fifth-largest in the Miami metro area, and the 12th-largest in Florida. The average temperature is between 69 and 83 °F (21 and 28 °C).

In 1920, Joseph Young arrived in South Florida to create his own “Dream City in Florida”. His vision included the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean stretching westward with man-made lakes, infrastructure, roads, and the Intracoastal Waterway. He wanted to include large parks, schools, churches, and golf courses, all industries and activities that were very important to him. After Young spent millions of dollars constructing the city, he was elected its first mayor in 1925. The town quickly became home to northerners known as “snowbirds”, who fled the north during the winter and then escaped the south during the summer. By 1960, Hollywood had more than 2,400 hotel units and 12,170 single-family homes. Young bought up thousands of acres of land around 1920, and named his new town “Hollywood by the Sea” to distinguish it from his other real-estate venture, “Hollywood in the Hills”, in New York.

The Florida guide, published by the Federal Writers’ Project, describes the development of Hollywood, an early example of the planned communities that proliferated in Florida during the real-estate boom of the 1920s:

Prospective purchasers of land were enticed by free hotel accommodation and entertainment, and “were driven about the city-to-be on trails blazed through palmetto thickets; so desolate and forlorn were some stretches that many women became hysterical, it is said, and a few fainted.” Young had a vision of lakes, golf courses, a luxury beach hotel (Hollywood Beach Hotel, now Hollywood Beach Resort), country clubs, and a main street, Hollywood Boulevard. Hollywood was severely damaged by the 1926 Miami hurricane; local newspapers reported that it was second only to Miami in losses from the storm. After Young’s death in 1934, the city encountered other destructive hurricanes, and the stock market crashed, causing personal financial misfortunes.

Hurricane Irma hit Florida in 2017, wreaking widespread damage. Due to the spontaneity of the hurricane, nearly 700 elderly nursing-home residents died. An investigation found that some of the deaths were a result not of the hurricane but of the poor conditions residents experienced in its aftermath. Four nursing-home staff were charged with negligence and manslaughter. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity created Rebuild Florida, an initiative to provide aid to citizens affected by Irma. Its initial focus was its Housing Repair Program, which offered assistance in rebuilding families’ homes. The program prioritized low-income vulnerable residents, such as the disabled, the elderly, and families with children under five.[citation needed] The program had varied results across the city, with hundreds of citizens claiming they were left without help.