Florida home hardening program shuts down to new applicants after less than three weeks
It didn’t take long for a state program offering generous home hardening subsidies to run out of funding.
Officials said they will no longer accept new applicants for the My Safe Florida Home program, which provides grants of up to $10,000 to help homeowners install new roofs, impact windows and exterior doors.
The reason, according to spokesman Devin Galetta, is that a $3.5 million pool set aside for initial inspections of windstorm mitigation features was exhausted after 3,212 homeowners applied since the program reopened on July 1.
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The program, intended to held reduce property insurance costs for owners of homes with insured values of up to $700,000, requires that applicants undergo an inspection before they can apply for a grant. Nearly $634 million has been spent since 2022, according to a news release from the Department of Financial Services.
But how many of the 3,212 new applicants will get an opportunity to apply for a grant before $185 million earmarked for new grant funding runs out remains to be seen.
The program has been busy since July 1 approving grants for thousands of homeowners who have been waiting in line since it last stopped accepting new applicants in September.
Lawmakers committed $200 million in new funding for the program, including money for administration and inspections, during the spring Legislative session, but prioritized it for low- and moderate-income households headed by people ages 60 and above.
Previous funding for the program did not include those restrictions.
The new funding removed the previous requirement for low-income homeowners to spend $1 for every $2 in grant funding they receive.
Galetta said Thursday that the shutdown to new applicants does not mean that participants who have had their inspections or have been approved for an inspection will be denied the ability to apply for grants.
He said he wanted to clarify that the program is not shutting down despite “some misleading headlines saying that the program is out of funding, which is incorrect.”
Since July 1, nearly 6,000 grants have been approved for applicants who previously applied and underwent their windstorm mitigation inspections, Galetta said.
Enough funding from the $185 million remains available to approve 13,000 additional grants, Galetta said.
But 63,251 have been waiting in the queue since September and they are being allowed to apply for grants according to the prioritization schedule approved by the Legislature last spring, he said.
That schedule moved low-income applicants over age 60 to the front of the line. Between July 1 and July 15, the program approved 3,986 grants for homeowners in that category, according to data provided by Galetta.
The next set of homeowners allowed to apply for funding are those under age 60 and low income. Since Tuesday, 1,761 of them have been approved for grants.
The next window opens on July 31 for moderate-income homeowners age 60 and over. That will last through Aug. 14.
The fourth window, for all moderate-income homeowners, runs from Aug. 15 through Aug. 30.
All homeowners who do not fit into one of those categories will be allowed to apply for a grant after Aug. 30 — if any grant money is left by then.
Low income households are defined as making 80% or less than the median household income of their county.
Moderate income households are defined as making 120% or less of their county’s median household income.
Galetta said he doesn’t expect the program to again open to new applicants until the Legislature approves yet another round of funding. That might not happen until next year, he said.
Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.
