My Safe Florida Home: who qualifies in 2026, what the $10,000 grant covers, and how to use it

# My Safe Florida Home, in plain English

This is a Florida program page. Several other hurricane states run a smaller version of the same idea, a funded retrofit tied to an insurance discount; the "Outside Florida?" section at the end lists the ones we verified.

Direct answer. My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) is a state program, run by the Department of Financial Services, that gives eligible homesteaded homeowners a free wind mitigation inspection and then a grant of up to $10,000 toward four specific hurricane-hardening improvements the inspection recommends. Since the 2025 legislative session, grants are limited to low- and moderate-income households, and applications open in phases with low-income seniors first. The inspection alone is worth getting even if you never qualify for a grant, because it doubles as the document that unlocks insurance discounts.

Two parts, two sets of rules

Part 1: the free inspection. You qualify if all of the following are true:

• Single-family home on its own parcel (confirm current eligibility for townhomes on mysafeflhome.com; the official FAQ controls).
• Site-built and owner-occupied.
• Homestead exemption granted under Chapter 196, Florida Statutes.

Not eligible: condos, co-ops, multi-family, mobile and manufactured homes, second homes and rentals. (Condo associations have a separate Condo Pilot Program at mysafeflcondo.com.)

A program-contracted inspector does the inspection; you cannot substitute your own. The report lands in your portal and tells you which of the four improvements you need and roughly what insurance discount each could earn.

Part 2: the grant. On top of Part 1, you need:

• Insured value of $700,000 or less.
• Home built before January 1, 2008 per the county property appraiser.
• A Florida-licensed contractor (general, building, residential, specialty or roofing) named in your application, with license number.
• Agreement to a final inspection and to share the insurance discount you receive.
• Income within the current limits. The 2025 changes restricted grants to low-income (at or below 80% of area median income) and moderate-income (80–120% AMI) households as defined in state law. The program FAQ confirms the restriction; the exact thresholds vary by county and household size.

How the money works

Worked examples from the program FAQ: a $15,000 impact-window job returns the full $10,000 (you pay $5,000); a $9,000 job returns $6,000; a $20,000 job still returns $10,000, so the extra $5,000 is yours.

Payment comes by check after a final inspection and a draw request. Budget for the gap: you (or your contractor) float the cost until the check arrives.

The four improvements, and only these four

1. Opening protection — impact-resistant windows, doors, garage doors and skylights.
2. Roof-to-wall attachment — adding clips or wraps to the truss-to-wall connection.
3. Roof-deck attachment — re-nailing the sheathing, usually done during a re-roof.
4. Secondary water resistance — a self-adhering underlayment under the roof covering.

Only improvements recommended in your initial inspection report and confirmed in the final inspection are funded. A full roof replacement is not a covered item on its own, though a re-roof is often the only practical time to do items 2 through 4, and those parts of the job can be funded. These four are the same features that move the biggest lines on the state wind mitigation form; see our wind mitigation guide.

The queue

Grant applications open in phases by priority group. The FAQ lists low-income applicants aged 60 and older first; third-party guides describe a four-tier order (low-income 60+, low-income under 60, moderate-income 60+, moderate-income under 60). Appropriation levels change with each legislative session; recent fiscal years have been reported in the $300–400 million range, with a reappropriation in the FY 2026-27 budget aimed at a backlog of inspected-but-unfunded homeowners. Translation: if you are moderate-income and under 60, get the inspection now so you are ready when your phase opens, but do not schedule contractors around it.

Five ways people lose the grant

1. Starting work before the approval letter. Automatic disqualification.
2. Using an unlicensed or wrong-category contractor. Verify on MyFloridaLicense.com before entering the license number.
3. Letting the clock run. Construction and the final-inspection request must be done within 18 months of approval.
4. Requesting the final inspection twice. You get one request. Confirm all permits are closed first.
5. Submitting the draw in pieces. The program asks for all reimbursement documents at once.

The program no longer keeps a contractor list and takes no part in contractor disputes. Treat it as a reimbursement, not a project manager.

Is it worth it if you plan to rebuild?

If your home is pre-2008 and you intend to live in it another decade, yes: the covered items are the highest-return retrofits in Florida, and the final inspection report is your new wind mitigation form. If you are weighing a teardown or a major rebuild, be careful. The grant funds retrofits to the existing structure, and spending $15,000 on windows for a house you demolish in three years is not a bargain. The honest path is to decide the house question first. That decision, repair-and-harden versus elevate versus rebuild, is exactly what BuiltStrong's advisory is built for, and it is more urgent after a storm; see Rebuilding after Isaias.

Outside Florida?

Every program below funds a FORTIFIED Roof (IBHS standard) rather than Florida's four-item list, and every one pairs the retrofit with an insurance discount. Terms change each cycle; the state page is the source of truth.

Two patterns worth noticing. First, every state outside Florida funds the roof, because that is where the loss data points; Florida's list adds openings. Second, Louisiana's Legislative Auditor found grant recipients saw a median premium reduction of about 22%, with typical out-of-pocket cost above the grant, which is the clearest public evidence that these programs pay back.

Deciding between a retrofit and a rebuild? BuiltStrong's advisory models both paths for your house: the grant-funded retrofit and its insurance effect, or a new structure in whichever system fits your site. No builder allegiance, every relationship disclosed. Start the intake · How the advisory works

Program contact (Florida): MSFH Call Center 561-640-6734 · info@mysafeflhome.com · Apply at mysafeflhome.com (use a computer and Chrome; submissions cannot be edited).