ORLANDO, Fla. – Bills filed for the annual Florida Legislative Session will look to create a funding source for a popular program to help Floridians pay to harden their homes against severe weather while also offering tax relief to make those home projects more attractive.
The My Safe Florida Home program helps homeowners with funding for things like hurricane-resistant windows and doors or roof upgrades.
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But the program’s popularity means it’s constantly running out of money, leaving applicants on a waiting list for help.
Last year, the Florida Legislature allocated some $200 million for the My Safe Florida Home Program, but that money was gone within two weeks of the application portal reopening last July.
[RELATED: What is the My Safe Florida Home Program?]
This time around, Gov. DeSantis is asking for double that. His proposed budget asks for $480 million in current-year funding. It’s not known yet how much lawmakers will actually allocate for the program this year.
Lawmakers are also working on bills to keep the program going.
This week, lawmakers filed a bill in the Florida Senate to create a My Safe Florida Home Trust Fund.
The fund would collect a portion of state sales tax paid in the two months following a hurricane’s landfall in counties that are in the state of emergency declaration area. The funds would then be distributed around three months after landfall.
“This strategic move will direct post-storm revenue back into the communities that need it most, reinforcing our commitment to disaster preparedness and response,” Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said in a news release.
In addition, lawmakers are filing tax relief bills to help homeowners who upgrade their properties.
[RELATED: How to find, contact your Florida state senators or representatives]
This week, State Sen. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, filed SB 1176. The bill would make it so that any home-hardening improvements do not increase the value of a person’s home, thus leading to higher property taxes.
“So let’s say you replace your roof, your tile roof with a metal roof. You, as the homeowner, get charged a penalty for the increased value that you’re creating in your home by putting a new and better roof on," Leek told News 6.
The changes that would be exempt from an increase in just value of a home include:
- Creating a secondary water barrier to prevent water intrusion in the roof.
- Installing wind-resistant shingles
- Installing gable-end bracing
- Reinforcing roof-to-wall connections
- Installing storm shutters
- Installing opening protections
“There’s just there’s just simply no reason homeowners who voluntarily harden their homes against storms should be being penalized with an increased property value,” Leek said.
A companion bill has also been filed in the Florida House.
Florida lawmakers have also filed a pair of bills to make impact-resistant doors and windows sales tax-exempt throughout February.
The Florida legislative session starts March 4.