Florida Offers Free Home Inspections, Hurricane Safety Grants

(TNS) — Floridians can now apply for the My Safe Florida Home program, a $150-million initiative aimed at helping people prepare their homes for major storms.

In May, the Florida state Legislature passed a sweeping property insurance reform bill that resurrected the program. The Department of Financial Services opened the application portal on Monday.

All single-family homeowners can sign up for free wind mitigation home inspections. Some may also be eligible to receive matching grants of up to $10,000 for various home improvement projects. This includes upgrading doors, windows and garage doors, installing roof water barriers and reinforcing roof to wall connections.

To qualify:

• Homeowners must have a homestead exemption.
• The home must have an insured value of $500,000 or less.
• The home must have undergone an acceptable hurricane mitigation inspection after July 1, 2008.
• The home must be located in what the Florida Building Code refers to as the “wind-borne debris region.”
• The building permit application for the initial construction of the home must have been made before July 1, 2008.
• The homeowner must agree to make his or her home available for inspection once a mitigation project is completed.

DFS anticipates completing between 140,000 and 145,000 home inspections and awarding between 11,000 and 12,000 grants, according to a media release from the agency. Applications will be reviewed and approved in the order in which they are received until funding is exhaustedHomeowners can fill out an application on the My Safe Florida Home website. For help with the application, call 866-513-6734 or email info@mysafeflhome.com.

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