TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – My Safe Florida Home is now accepting applications for inspections that could lead to state-matched grants to help homeowners pay for resiliency projects in the face of another hurricane season.
Decreed at a bill-signing event in April, $200 million from the state’s General Revenue Fund was made available July 1 for My Safe Florida Home, a popular state-run program meant to help approved homeowners pay for hurricane-related home improvements.
$2 from the state for every $1 spent by a homeowner toward the actual cost of an authorized mitigation project — or two thirds of the project cost up to $10,000 — will be issued via grants to help approved applicants pay for such things as upgraded roof coverings, upgrades to windows, exterior doors and garage doors, reinforced wall-to-roof connections, strength improvements to roof deck attachments and secondary water resistance for a roof.
The program began accepting applications for wind mitigation inspections starting July 1, according to a state bulletin.
• Homeowners to choose ANY Certified Florida State contractor to make important retrofit upgrades to their homes. (Contractors must be certified by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Local government licenses will not be accepted.) The current contractor list maintained by the Program will cease to exist on July 1, 2024. It will be up to each homeowner to find and manage their own contractor in the open marketplace—which should lead to increased competition and better pricing.
• Next, to consolidate the reimbursement process with one set of rules—all grant dollars will be paid directly to the Florida homeowner for them to distribute, including low-income grants.
• Finally, there will be a new application process for grants using a tiered approach to prioritize low- and moderate-income Floridians who are sixty and older.
MSFH Program Changes Flyer | (excerpt)
The bulletin clarified that applications will be accepted and prioritized in the following order:
- Low-income homeowners ages 60-plus: July 1 to 15
- Low-income homeowners of any age: July 16 to 30
- Moderate-income homeowners ages 60-plus: July 31 to Aug. 14
- Moderate-income homeowners of any age: Aug. 15 to 30
- All other eligible Florida homeowners: Aug. 31
“Low income” is defined as 80% or less of the median household income of your county while “moderate income” is defined as 120% or less of the median household income of your county, the bulletin said.
“It’s in desperate need,” said Bushnell resident, Eldrige Mack. “I could go on all week and tell you about the need but it is desperate.”
Mack is applying for the My Safe Florida Home Program. He said he’s hoping the grant funding will help him get a new roof.
“My only income is my social security,” Mack said. “I’m 100% disabled and my roof is 14 years old and I’m having problems getting insurance because they’re saying my roof is too old.”
Agency owner at Insurance Scout Partners, Damon Rigetta, said it’s split down the middle when it comes to his clients that do and don’t qualify for the program.
“I would say there’s less that are actually qualifying for the full amount because it’s up to 10,000 [dollars] but either way our clients that did fully qualify received great benefits from it,” Rigetta said.
Learn more at the program’s website.
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