Gov. DeSantis pushing for more funding for 'My Safe Florida Home' program

Governor wants more money for popular home program

FOX 13’s Kellie Cowan has a look at the push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fund the My Safe Florida Home program and clear its long wait list.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to clear the ‘My Safe Florida Home’ program's backlog, asking the Florida Legislature for enough funding to eliminate the wait list.

What is My Safe Florida Home?

Big picture view:

The program offers matching grants for Floridians of up to $10,000 to homeowners who shore up their homes with storm-protective upgrades like hurricane-safe doors or windows.

First-time applicants must complete an initial wind-mitigation inspection to proceed with the grant application. That inspection will then provide homeowners with:

The opportunity to share that report with their insurance carrier to make sure they're receiving all possible discounts on the hurricane portion of their home insurance premium
A roadmap to retrofitting their home with improvements to strengthen it against hurricanes

To qualify for the inspection, homeowners must meet the following requirements:

The home must be a single-family, detached residential property or a townhouse.
The home must be site-built and owner-occupied.
The homeowner must have been granted a homestead exemption on the home.

As an added bonus, those who have completed work upgrading their homes with new windows or doors may be eligible for a tax credit as well for making those energy efficient upgrades, whether you participated in My Safe Florida or not.

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The governor's proposed budget

By the numbers:

Gov. DeSantis wants to add about $600 million to the program as part of his proposed $115.6 billion budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Last year, the state allocated $200 million, which ran out in a matter of days. In addition, just over 3,000 homeowners were able to make it through last summer’s enrollment process before the program had to close the application portal again, mere days after it’d reopened.

PREVIOUS: Part of My Safe Florida Home program runs out of funding 2 weeks after applications open

DeSantis says more than 50,000 Floridians have submitted applications and are waiting to make it through the next steps.

What's next:

The Florida Legislature will vote on the budget during its legislative session, which begins March 4.

The Source: Information for this story was collected by FOX 13's Kellie Cowan.

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