Answers to your questions about the My Safe Florida Home program

ABC Action News continues to field questions from viewers about the state’s popular My Safe Florida Home Program. The grant program reimburses eligible homeowners up to $10,000 to harden their homes, with the goal of lowering insurance premiums. However, when the program reopened for applications on July 1, funding for initial inspections quickly ran out … in less than 10 days.

ABC Action News anchor Nadeen Yanes traveled to Altamonte Springs for the second state fair, “Fixing Problems for Floridians.” For the first time, she was able to connect with the three-person team that runs the My Safe Florida Home program and get some answers from them.

Nadeen spoke with the program’s Chief Business Officer, Steven Fielder. Here are her questions and his answers.

Q: What is your role within the My Safe Florida Home program?

A: I oversee it. There are literally two employees. It’s Tim and a lady in Tallahassee. It’s all outsourced to a vendor and we manage the vendors that manage the program.

Q: We hear from our viewers that they want to participate in this program. How has your life been since July 1st?

A: Very busy. We have had a lot of activity, many homeowners are excited and eager to participate in the program. We know we are in the middle of hurricane season, people want to protect their homes as best as possible, but we have had a lot of calls, emails, and questions. It is difficult to keep up with the volume. We have tried to make some adjustments for that. I understand that some people have been on hold and we apologize for that, we just ask for your patience. We are doing our best to reach everyone.

Q: Tell us what you do on the HR side to answer these questions and calls.

A: The call center is outsourced and we have spoken to our contractors and they are hiring more people to get more people on the phone. I would encourage people to use their account and their portal as a way to communicate and get information. We also have our Facebook page and website that we try to post regularly to keep people updated on what is happening and also answer questions that way to have multiple channels to reach people.

Q: Tell us what happened on July 10th. Explain to the audience how the money ran out and where we are now.

A: Thank you for the opportunity to clarify that. So, the legislature appropriated $200 million dollars for the program. Of that $200 million, some of it was allocated to grants, some of it was allocated to initial inspections, and then of course there’s the initial overhead – to pay people to answer the phone, to answer emails, and so forth. The portion that was allocated to initial inspections was only $500,000 dollars, which is about 3,400 initial inspections. Those were all done by the 10th of this month. Because so many people, thousands of them, had already had their initial inspection and we were waiting for grant money. So it was decided that the majority of that $200 million should go to those people and that population that has been waiting for the portal to open back up.

Q: The people who have already had an inspection still get priority. So they don’t even get the subsidy because of the priority system, is that right?

A: Right. The legislature has asked us to prioritize applicants that we currently have in what we call Group 2. Group 1 was homeowners over 60, low income. We are now in Group 2, which is all low income homeowners. Groups 3 and 4 are moderate incomes above and below 60. We are finally at 5. Right now the grant funding is holding up well and I think we can go through all the groups, but we can’t guarantee, no guarantees. It all depends on the responses that we get from homeowners. If they have submitted their application, that means if they are in Group 1 and 2, that means they have already had their inspection. We should have already validated that they own their home, which is a requirement. At that point, the only other verification was age and income. If they have cleared those hurdles, then the last one is your insured value, which is a legal requirement. Most people who get to that point should be fine.

Q: The new applications, did they include everyone? Or did they filter out low-income seniors from the start?

A: Knowing that the legislature wanted priority. In June, we surveyed the homeowners who had already had an inspection, we proactively emailed them and said, OK, we have this new requirement. How old are you? What is your income? Tell us that up front. We collected that information in June and then prioritized those people. So the people who applied in July should have no problem getting the funds.

Q: For those who heard about the program in Groups 3, 4, and 5 and haven’t signed up yet, you’re out of luck at the moment.

A: Right. If you’re standing on the doorstep saying, “I need an inspection,” you’re right. That money is gone for now. Of course, hopefully the legislature will approve more money when they come back to the city, but for now, our priority is the people who have already had their inspection and were waiting for the grant money. I understand the disappointment. I hope everyone understands that we’re trying to prioritize the people who are past that first point and who were also waiting for the grant money. We’re trying to pump the majority of the money into that demographic.

Q: How hopeful are you that this will get into Group 5?

A: For the grant applicants?

Q: Yes.

A: I’m going to say this. Based on the people who responded to our survey in June, we know how many people responded to the survey. So I’m really hoping that we get into Group 5, we don’t get past Group 5, if that makes sense.

Q: What is your response to the fact that the demand for this program is so high?

A: People want to do the right thing for their home, it’s important because it’s their biggest investment. They want to make sure it’s going to withstand the storm and protect the people who live there. I think they’re interested in making sure they’re doing the right thing for their home and of course they want to save money on their insurance because they’ve got to pay all their bills and put food on the table.

Q: When is the pilot program for apartments expected to start?

A: The condo program is new. While it is similar to this program, there are many differences. I expect that this program will be up and running hopefully by September. Again, we have to build that from scratch. Like this program, it is outsourced, but it is a different vendor that will be running that program.

Q: And that only applies to homeowners’ associations, right?

A: Correct. Condo associations are the only ones that can apply. Individual unit owners cannot.

Q: How much of the $200 million for the original My Safe Florida Home Program do we outsource to the vendor?

A: Of the $200 million, it’s about $11 million. It’s a percentage of the value, so it’s about $11 million dollars.