By Jim Turner ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — The state has stopped taking new applications for a popular home hardening program, less than a month after a new round of funding became available.
The Department of Financial Services said online that funding has been “exhausted” for initial inspections in the My Safe Florida Home program. The program offers inspections and grants up to $10,000 to help residents upgrade homes and qualify for property insurance discounts for residences valued up to $700,000.
Devin Galetta, spokesperson for state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, said Wednesday the program is still “up and running” for people who have already been approved for inspections.
“As we continue to fight (insurance) rate increases, the My Safe Florida Home program is one of the strongest tools in the toolkit to help rein in rates and make homes safer,” Galetta said in a statement. “Next (legislative) session, the CFO is going to put forward some ideas for improving the program, including dedicated funding streams and making the program reoccurring.”
The program drew 3,212 initial inspection applications after a new My Safe Florida Home law (SB 7028) took effect July 1. The legislation included $200 million for hurricane mitigation grants, inspections and outreach.
The department said the program has been used to conduct 106,000 home inspections over the past two years, with 38,500 grant applications approved.
The department estimates that grant-related home improvements have provided up to $1,000 in savings on insurance premiums.
The program was created in 2006, after a series of hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 led to 2.8 million Florida homeowners sustaining more than $33 billion in insured property damage. After an initial infusion of $250 million, the next funding for the program didn’t come until 2022, when lawmakers put forward $215 million during a special legislative session to address the state’s property insurance problems.
An additional $176.17 million was put into the program during a November 2023 special session, as more than 17,600 grant applications awaited funding.
The new law includes prioritizing consideration of applications by people such as low-income seniors. The funding was promoted as potentially helping nearly 20,000 Floridians.
The law also prohibits the department from creating a waiting list once money runs out, “unless the Legislature expressly provides authority to implement such actions.”
The application halt doesn’t affect $30 million in the state budget tied to legislation (HB 1029) that allows condominium associations to be eligible for inspections and grants. The department is still working on inspection procedures and application forms for the condo-association program, which will open this fall..
Lawmakers required participating associations to provide a $1 match for every $2 provided in the program, with a maximum of $175,000 per association.
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