For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Contact: Office of Communications, Communications@MyFloridaCFO.com, 850.413.2842

CFO Patronis: Fund Florida’s ‘My Safe Florida Home’ Program with Hurricane Helene Sales Tax Revenue

~ Due to popular demand, Program funds are now fully obligated ~  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis announced that grant funds associated with the “My Safe Florida Home” program have been fully obligated and that he will ask the Florida Legislature to direct sales tax dollars generated from hurricane recovery efforts to be reinvested into the program to support more homeowners. My Safe Florida Home provides inspections and grants, up to $10,000, for Floridians to strengthen their homes against storms and hurricanes, with the benefit of lowering home insurance costs. Due to popular demand, program funds are now fully obligated to existing participants and no new applications are being accepted at this time.

CFO Jimmy Patronis said: “Hurricane Helene has devastated our state. People have lost homes, businesses have been wrecked, and worse. It’s a tragedy that we are diligently working to overcome. As we begin to rebuild, the sales tax dollars that are generated from the increase in spending during recovery efforts should be put back into the My Safe Florida Home program. It’s a proven success that helps Floridians harden their homes against storms exactly like Hurricane Helene, and hurricanes Debby, Idalia, Ian and others before that. We must continue to put Floridians first, and that means creating a hurricane-recovery sales tax funding source for this wildly popular and very important program.”

The My Safe Florida Home program has served homeowners in every county in the state. To date, the program has delivered over:

• 109,000 free home inspections
• 58,700 approved home hardening grants
• $576 million in grant funding
• $190 million in home hardening grant reimbursements
• $1,000 in average annual premium savings (for participants who complete the program)

As the Department of Financial Services, which CFO Patronis oversees, contacted carriers in Florida’s insurance market, several companies stood out in their responsiveness to applying savings for My Safe Florida Home participants. Policyholders who received home hardening, wind mitigation premium credits due to the program received significant savings from the following insurance companies:

• 51% – Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company
• 23% – Heritage Property & Casualty Company
• 13% – Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

Obligated funds are grant funds that have been identified for specific program applicants. The program’s current funding has been obligated well before the end of the Fiscal Year, June 30, 2025.

CFO Patronis has championed the My Safe Florida Home program and has been actively engaged in developing new proposals for additional funding and improvements. In addition to the hurricane recovery sales tax proposal, CFO Patronis is focused on making the program a potential reoccurring state budget item and has requested $480 million to continue hardening Florida homes against future hurricane damage. The Department of Financial Services and the My Safe Florida Home program are also gathering feedback from consumers and interested parties as the Florida Legislature considers the program prior to the state’s next legislative session.  

To receive program updates, homeowners should visit MySafeFLHome.com and click “Stay Tuned.”

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