Florida is shelving My Safe Home program

After trumpeting it as the answer to Floridians' insurance woes, the state is poised to end its 2-year-old effort to strengthen homes against hurricanes.

The My Safe Florida Home program ends after strengthening fewer than 1 percent of the state's 4.5-million homesteaded properties against hurricanes.

Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer, is expected to announce during a news conference in Pinellas Park today that the $250-million My Safe Florida Home program has met the goals mandated by the Legislature a year early and is out of money.

As of Monday, Sink's office said, there no longer will be slots available for the free wind inspections offered by the program.

"The response has been overwhelming," said Kevin Cate, a spokesman for Sink. "You can talk to almost a half-million people. They're better off than they were before the program existed."

Bill Newton, executive director of the Florida Consumer Action Network, said the program has fallen short of what it should have been.

"It is not satisfactory," Newton said. "But people want tax cuts. If that's what they want to do, they're going to have to cut programs.

"We think we need to retrofit the homes to withstand the hurricanes," Newton said. "If you don't, you're going to have the program the hard way: the hurricanes are going to knock down the homes, and you'll have to rebuild the homes to code."

My Safe Florida Home offered free wind inspections to qualified homeowners and matching grants up to $5,000 to make recommended improvements to their houses. The idea was the added protection would lower insurance costs.

The program was plagued with problems, including the awarding of an illegal contract to a nonprofit organization with ties to the insurance industry. Computer problems hampered the automatic application system.

And efforts to increase funding nearly cost Hurricane Wilma victims money they needed to put roofs on their homes.

Jeb Bush's administration sought to increase the pot of money for My Safe Florida Home with $100-million in federal funds that Congress approved for those hit hard by the 2005 hurricanes. That money later was redirected to the storm victims.

After the delays and missteps by the program, the Legislature ordered the Department of Financial Services to complete at least 400,000 free wind inspections and issue 35,000 grants to help homeowners make recommended improvements by June 30, 2009.

Comments on this article

by POS	Jul 5, 2008 11:10 PM
After having a wind inspection, applying hurricane panels on doors and windows for over $1000 deduction on my homeowners insurance, State Farm is not renewing me.

by POS	Jul 5, 2008 11:10 PM
By the way, after getting the inspection, and reinforcing the openings for the $1000+ deduction on my homeowners insurance, State Farm is not renewing me come October 2008.

by Howie	Jul 4, 2008 1:31 PM
If the program helped 1% as the article said, then that would be 45,000 homes not 450,000. Poorly worded article IMO. Sounds like a failure without the article actually saying.

by ken	Jul 4, 2008 1:26 PM
After you received your wind inspection-send that info to your ins. co. and they will give you a premium credit. That's mandetory. Next is have the 25K+ homeowners that applied for a grant to use them.That money HAS NOT been spent and is being held

by joe tampa	Jul 4, 2008 1:18 PM
Another useless government program benefitting insiders. Build on the water... shoddy construction... and pay for it!

by Lucy	Jul 4, 2008 1:17 PM
And I don't have a ton of money. It's just smart to pay a small amount up front rather than lose everything I own. You people need to make up your mind-either you want tax cuts OR you want gov't services. You can't get both.

by Lucy	Jul 4, 2008 1:13 PM
This "waste of money" helped to pay for window coverings in my house that can withstand 140+ mph winds & let us know what else was weak. So what if they don't pay for everything. It's good to know so you can fix up your house yourself.

by David	Jul 4, 2008 1:12 PM
I was a good program, many homeowners saved on their wind insurance!

by Inspector	Jul 4, 2008 1:12 PM
As an inspector for the program I can say absolutely that Sink trashed the program wasting a lot of the money. Right as the program was ending she bought all new computers and software for it which were a complete disaster and a waste of money.

by JS	Jul 4, 2008 1:03 PM
In related news: Tropical Storm Bertha has formed in the Atlantic Ocean.

by Raymond	Jul 4, 2008 1:01 PM
Pete-the program was limited to lower priced homes. LDH-The program is out of money, Sink can't print it. Denise- the program was not meant to replace leaky roofs it was for hardening homes.

by Trevor	Jul 4, 2008 1:01 PM
Expensive homes are not eligible for grants in this program, but don't expect to learn facts like that from this paper or this reporter.

by brian	Jul 4, 2008 1:00 PM
Great program! I hope for continued legistation on this or a similiar program in the near future.

by Tom	Jul 4, 2008 1:00 PM
What a great program!! They only provided assistance in the wind borne debris areas. 100% Pinellas 0.05% Hillsborough. Told me that they would pay 50% upto $5000. Then I found that the improvements would cost $10,000 with the State $ or $5000 without

by AL	Jul 4, 2008 12:39 PM
I think it was a big scam. The only thing I got was nothing.

by JOhn	Jul 4, 2008 12:23 PM
Denise your roof is YOUR RESPONISBLITY not the states...

by Bob	Jul 4, 2008 12:18 PM
It was a great program. The inspection saved me lots of money on my insurance, cost me nothing and I am comfortable that my home is good for all but a cat 5 storm. One of the very few government programs that I have ever used. Thanks Jeb Bush.

by Carol	Jul 4, 2008 11:54 AM
Mary... There are no such words as "would of" and "should of", those are contractions of WOULD HAVE and SHOULD HAVE, so it should have been: would've and should've. BUT, you make an excellent point anyway.

by cia	Jul 4, 2008 11:44 AM
I am surprised to hear of this, notices of this program should be enclosed with our property tax bill.

by Jalynn	Jul 4, 2008 11:43 AM
The program given "illegally" to the non-profit was to help those without the financial ability to help themselves. The money they were given went to organizations to provide the materials and labor to harden the homes of the poor. Oooh bad program

by POS	Jul 4, 2008 11:35 AM
MSFH program applies to home values of $300,000 and under. I'm on a fixed income, home is valued at $175,000. Wind inspection & hurricane panels saved me about $1,000 on ins. There are agency's to help low-income. I paid $0 up front. I am very happy

by flgirl	Jul 4, 2008 11:33 AM
do the poeple of fl know of this program

by Joaquin	Jul 4, 2008 11:24 AM
Denise, the money did cover roofs if the inspector deemed you needed one. Of course, it would only give a maximum of $5,000 towards it, but check again. It applied if a roof was recommended.

by Grace	Jul 4, 2008 11:23 AM
The MSFH matching grant was a great help. I got impact windows and garage door plus a reduction on my homeowner's insurance.

by Joanie	Jul 4, 2008 11:01 AM
LDH-sounds like you are denying someone who may possibly have worked to earn her millions? Some people do, you know. There is such a thing as replacement insurance. Look it up.

by Kathy	Jul 4, 2008 11:00 AM
We got impact windows and the $5,000 rebate. We COULD afford them but feel we finally got some of our tax money back from the state instead of it going to people who are experts at "milking" the system.

by Pete	Jul 3, 2008 1:57 PM
Interesting that only 1 percent of homes were strengthened with this program. Bet those homes were in the high end. Us po' folk can't afford to shell out to strengthen our homes. Not in today's economy. We're barely surviving.

by LDH	Jul 3, 2008 1:57 PM
Perfect timing now that we're entering hurricane season. Besides, who cares if our homes blow away? If Sink's house blows away she'll just build another one with her millions!

by Fred	Jul 3, 2008 1:57 PM
This program helped me immensly, I saved $1100.00 on my homeowners insurance

by Todd	Jul 3, 2008 1:56 PM
The "Wind Mitigation Report" you get lowered my insurance $550 PER YEAR! You can still have these done, but you'll now have to pay about $85 to have one done...

by mary	Jul 3, 2008 1:50 PM
good for you duff you probably had the extra 50,000$ it would of taken to put a roof and hurricane windows on our 1956 home. the program should of been for people w/o funds at all. 5G wasn't enough.

by Denise	Jul 3, 2008 9:55 AM
This program was a waste of time and money. We were told we needed a new roof but the money alotted didn't apply to roofs. This program was no help at all. What a crock and so typical of Florida. Good riddance.

by Duff	Jul 3, 2008 9:55 AM
A great program by the state - though short lived. Helped me save $1100 on my homeowner's insurance.