Can you still get money from Florida to harden your home? What to know

Florida lawmakers are assigning no new money this year for My Safe Florida Home, the popular home-hardening program that awards $10,000 grants to help Floridians upgrade their windows and doors.

That’s because about $440 million in the program remains unspent — the result of recent eligibility changes and homeowners receiving free inspections but not upgrading their homes to receive the grants.

Not all of that money is available. About $173 million is set aside for about 17,340 homeowners who could eventually receive grants, according to the Department of Financial Services, which runs the program.

Gov. Ron DeSantis asked lawmakers to assign another $100 million for the program this year.

Being flush with cash is new for the program, which was revived in 2022 to try to help homeowners save money on their insurance premiums. In its first three years, the money was quickly expended. In 2024, for example, the state stopped accepting applications within a month of the money becoming available.

Since then, legislators narrowed who can qualify for the program, prioritizing low-income homeowners.

The program is available to Floridians with homestead exemptions on single-family houses and townhomes worth $700,000 or less. Homeowners have to first apply for a free wind mitigation inspection to determine whether the home is eligible for new windows and doors and other structural reinforcements.

If eligible, homeowners can apply to receive $2 for every $1 they spend on hardening, up to $10,000. Homeowners who spend $15,000 on eligible upgrades would receive the full $10,000, for example. Low-income homeowners, defined as making 80% or less of their area’s median household income, don’t have to pay a matching amount.

After doing the work, the homeowner would need to do a final inspection before applying to receive the state grant.

Department of Financial Services spokesperson Sydney Booker said in a statement that even without new money, the program can continue. Applications are still being accepted at MySafeFLHome.com.

“While we continue to monitor the ongoing budget negotiations in the Legislature, we remain confident that the program has the resources to continue delivering meaningful support to Florida homeowners and condo associations,” Booker said.

Since August, when the latest round of funding became available, 28,492 home inspections have been completed, she said.

A separate home-hardening program for condominiums, the My Safe Florida Condo Pilot Program, has struggled to get off the ground.

Launched with about $30 million in 2024, only two condominiums so far have gotten funding, according to the department. Nearly 50 grants worth $175,000 have been approved, worth about $7.3 million. To apply for the grant, a majority of the association’s board and 75% of its unit owners have to approve it.

Lawmakers aren’t allocating the pilot program any more money.

State Sen. Jason Pizzo, an independent from Sunny Isles Beach, said Wednesday that the rollout has “not gone very well,” adding that the vendor hired to disburse the funds “decided they didn’t want to do it anymore.” Booker said that was not accurate, and that the vendor’s contract ended “due to a lack of funding authority.”

He’s proposing SB 1706, which would eliminate the requirement that eligible condominiums be within 15 miles of the coast. It would also apply to buildings built before 2008, and only for associations in which 80% of homeowners make less than 80% of the area’s median income.

The legislation passed its final committee in the Senate on Wednesday, but it has more committees to go in the House.