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More help to harden homes

There is no question that one of the long-term solutions to Florida's insurance crisis is to fortify homes so they will better withstand hurricanes. As the state overhauls a new program to provide free inspections and matching grants to harden homes, it has another opportunity to get it right and make a significant difference in our hurricane preparedness.

My Safe Florida Home is a good initiative that got off to a bumpy start after it was created by the Legislature last year. There was an imprudent rush by then-Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher to make an immediate impact as he campaigned for governor, and the interest by homeowners seeking help was overwhelming. In hindsight, expectations were too high and Gallagher should not have been so quick to award a contract to the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes to run the initial phase of the program. The contract ballooned from nearly $460,000 to almost $3-million. While FLASH trained hundreds of inspectors who inspected 14,000 homes in 16 counties, it's not good public policy for contracts to be awarded so quickly and escalate in value so dramatically.

There is some understandable frustration as the program takes a pause before it expands statewide. FLASH's involvement is ending as was always anticipated, new inspections are on hold as thousands of homeowners wonder about the status of their pending applications and the first matching grants - more than 500 worth a combined $203,000 - finally were to be mailed by today. But new Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is making solid progress.

A beefed-up Web site (www.mysafe floridahome.com) has plenty of useful information, including an online search for certified contractors by county and a toll-free number for questions (1-800-342-2762). In late March, the state expects to award up to eight contracts for inspections, with the state divided into four districts. Home inspections are expected to resume in April. The sooner, the better.

Plenty of challenges remain, of course. The insurance bill passed by the Legislature last month requires the state to develop uniform inspection forms that will be used by insurers to factor discounts for windstorm coverage. A new home grading scale will be created to rate a home's ability to withstand hurricane winds. Insurers also will be required to offer reductions on deductibles for mitigation efforts and to provide notice of the available discounts or credits. All of this should help homeowners determine how to make their home more hurricane-proof and what that investment will do to their insurance premiums.

As My Safe Florida Home cranks back up, the state's new Windstorm Mitigation Study Committee should continue to brainstorm ways to efficiently inspect and harden homes. Lawmakers also should be prepared to allocate more positions and money to Sink's department, which will be performing the oversight that the nonprofit provided in the initial phase. Florida homeowners have demonstrated their interest in seeking help to harden their homes against hurricanes. Now it's up to the state to provide that help more efficiently to more homeowners.

[Last modified February 16, 2007, 00:54:23]