According to the article, the city did offer $5k for rent assistance and insurance deductible coverage... not sure if that was before or after the court proceedings got underway.

Right, but the government offered to cover his deductible.

Any money he got from the government over and above the deductible he'd likely have to pay back to his insurance company, wouldn't he? You can't double dip like that.

They offered $5000 toward the deductible and temporary housing. No mention of actual costs involved (like, how large was the total deductible, for instance). Given how long it takes to build a house, plus extra time + expense for demo & removal in this case, I'd expect $5000 to be a small part of just the temporary housing costs.

This is prime example of what insurance should cover 100% no questions asked with no premium increase. These circumstances are way out of a homeowners' control, maybe this guy should look into suing his own insurance company.