FL Insurance Crisis: Lawmakers OK $175M For My Safe FL Home Grants

FLORIDA — Floridians struggling with rising property insurance premiums and the need to fortify their homes against future hurricanes received some heartening news following a three-day special legislative session this week.

House Bill 1C, Disaster Relief, sponsored by Florida Rep. Jason Shoaf, R- Port St. Joe, allocated $181.5 million to help Florida farmers and homeowners whose property was damaged by Hurricane Idalia on Aug. 30 and to address the backlog of My Safe Florida Home applications.

The bill provides an additional $176.2 million to the My Safe Florida Home program that could lower annual homeowners insurance premiums for Floridians by $1,000.

The bill also provides additional resources to assist farmers recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Idalia, including tax relief on motor fuel used for agricultural shipments and debris removal and on materials used to repair or replace nonresidential farm buildings and fencing.

“I was honored to sponsor this bill which provides needed relief to those hit hardest by Hurricane Idalia, many of whom are my constituents," Shoaf said. "The bill funds several programs that assist in local recovery efforts and expands the My Safe Florida Home program so that Floridians can reinforce their homes to mitigate future storm damage."

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the My Safe Florida Home program, the state had to temporarily pause the acceptance of grant applications because the number of grant applications submitted exceeded the allocated funding.

The Legislature originally allocated $150 million in funding for the program when it was first passed during the 2022 legislative session. In 2023, the Legislature appropriated an additional $100 million, but “applications have greatly exceeded the amount of funding available,” a recent state analysis of the program concluded.

Nearly 39,000 people have applied for the grants. Of those 20,979 grants have been approved and 17,617 grant applications have been submitted and are awaiting review and approval.

My Safe Florida Home was passed by the Florida Legislature six months before Hurricane Ian struck South Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 28, devastating Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island, Pine Island, Captiva Island and Cape Coral.

The program, administered by the Florida Department of Financial Services, provides grants to homeowners to strengthen their homes against hurricanes by reinforcing roof-to-wall connections, installing water-resistant roofs, upgrading roofs, improving the strength of roof deck attachments, and installing hurricane-resistant exterior doors, garage doors and windows.

The program also offers free home inspections to owners of any single-family home or townhouse to determine improvements needed against hurricane damage.

Those who receive grants and make improvements could potentially lower their home insurance premiums, may be eligible to apply for a matching grant of up to $10,000 from the state and will be exempted from paying the 6 percent state sales tax for hurricane-resistant doors, garage doors and windows.

The 2023 Legislature updated the program as of July 1, providing grants to applicants whose homes are insured for $700,000 or less and applicants outside of the Wind-Borne Debris region. The original program provided grants to homes insured for $500,000 or less.

The Legislature also increased low-income grants from $5,000 to $10,000.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who's been wrestling with property insurance companies pulling out of Florida or declaring bankruptcies at record levels resulting in increases in property insurance rates statewide, applauded the Legislature on the passage of the additional $176 million in funding for My Safe Florida Home.

According to research conducted by the national Insurance Information Institute, 15 to 20 percent of Florida homeowners currently have no homeowners insurance, as compared to the 12 percent average nationwide.

Many homeowners dropped by their bankrupt insurance companies have been forced to seek coverage from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the not-for-profit state-funded insurance company formed by the Florida Legislature in August 2002.

Citizens currently has about 1.4 million policyholders, making what is supposed to be a property insurer of last resort the second-largest insurer of property in Florida behind the private Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Co.

Due to the overwhelming demand caused by property insurance companies defaulting or pulling out of Florida, Citizens sent letters to more than 304,000 Florida homeowners several months ago, giving them an Oct. 10 deadline to either pay a 61 percent higher premium or seek coverage from one of five private insurance companies that have agreed to take on some of Citizens' policies at higher rates than what homeowners are paying for Citizens insurance:

• Monarch National Insurance Co.
• Safepoint Insurance Co.
• Southern Oak Insurance Co.
• Slide Insurance Co.
• Florida Peninsula Insurance Co.

While the Florida Legislature has passed a number of insurance reforms designed to retain property insurers in Florida by weeding out frivolous lawsuits, Patronis said the My Safe Florida Home program has enabled thousands of Florida to retain homeowners insurance.

“The My Safe Florida Home program has been a huge success, helping thousands of Floridians harden their home against storms while saving an average of $1,000 annually on insurance premiums," he said. "The program has also assisted more than 87,000 homeowners in conducting free home inspections to further understand how to protect their homes during disasters."

The additional funds approved this week will fund applications submitted on or before Oct. 15. Many of these applications were submitted after Hurricane Idalia struck Florida's east coast on Aug. 31, damaging property from Pinellas County north to Florida Big Bend area.

"Since Day 1, I’ve made it my mission to put policyholders first and use every tool at our disposal to help Floridians weather the storm of increasing home insurance costs," Patronis said. "I look forward to working with the Legislature during the next legislative session to look for ways to expand the program and provide more funding so that more Floridians can benefit.”

That may be easier said than done.

The legislation passed this week bars the Florida Department of Financial Services from accepting new applications for My Safe Florida Home or creating a waiting list “in anticipation of additional funding unless the Legislature provides express authority to implement such actions.”

During the lightning-round special session that began Monday and concluded Wednesday, the Legislature also provided additional funding for scholarships for families of students with unique abilities, agreed to divest from any companies doing business in Florida that support Iran and allocated funding so Florida's Jewish day schools, synagogues and community centers can install or upgrade safety features in light of recent acts of antisemitism in Florida.

“In Florida, we don’t wait around to act," said Speaker of the House Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. "Thanks to Gov. DeSantis’ support, we conducted an efficient special session that delivered on a series of key promises.”

He said the Legislature has now appropriated a total of $417 million in disaster relief funding. In addition to the $181.5 million for the My Safe Florida Home program and Hurricane Idalia disaster relief, the Legislature allocated:

• $50 million for the Hurricane Recovery Grant Program.
• $30 million to provide local governments with the local match requirement to receive FEMA Public Assistance Funding.
• $25 million to fund the Hurricane Housing Recovery Program.
• $10 million for the Small County Outreach Program through the Department of Transportation to assist impacted counties with transportation projects.
• $5 million for the Rural Infrastructure Fund dedicated to counties impacted by Hurricane Idalia.