My Safe Florida Home will not pay for your roof. Usually.

Most pages about the My Safe Florida Home grant open with $10,000 and a picture of a new roof. Two limits in the program rules decide, before anything else, whether you will see a dollar of it.

1. The grant is income-restricted. Under s. 215.5586(2)(a), F.S., an applicant must be a low-income or moderate-income person as defined in s. 420.0004, F.S. The program's own 2025 Program Update flyer states plainly that higher income households will not be eligible for grants at this time.
2. A standalone re-roof is not a covered improvement. Roof covering replacement is fundable only when it is necessary to complete roof-to-wall attachment, roof-deck attachment, or secondary water resistance work. Replacing a roof covering by itself is expressly excluded, and so is a partial repair.

If either one rules you out, you have your answer in ninety seconds instead of after an inspection. The second half of this page applies to every Florida homeowner regardless of the grant, because the form that lowers a windstorm premium is separate from the program entirely.

How the money actually works

The grant is a match, not a payment. Under s. 215.5586(2)(c), F.S., and as described by the program support center, the state contributes $2 for every $1 the homeowner puts in, capped at $10,000 in state money. A $15,000 project returns $10,000 in state funds against a $5,000 homeowner match. A $30,000 project still returns $10,000, because the cap binds before the ratio does.

Low-income applicants are treated differently. Under s. 215.5586(2)(h), F.S., a low-income applicant may receive up to $10,000 with no matching funds required.

Only work an inspector recommended is payable. The program states that "Only Improvements recommended by an Inspector in the Initial Inspection Report and observed by an Inspector in the Final Inspection Report are eligible for funding under the program. No other construction work will be considered for funding." A contractor cannot add a line item to a grant, and neither can you.

What the grant covers on a roof

The 2026 text of s. 215.5586(2)(e), F.S., lists what grant funds may be used for. Under roof improvements it names: reinforcing roof-to-wall connections; improving the strength of roof-deck attachments; and installing secondary water resistance for roof and replacing the roof covering. Under opening protection it names exterior doors, garage doors, windows, and skylights.

In that statutory list, roof covering replacement is written into the secondary water resistance item rather than standing as a category of its own. The program's support center sets out the operational categories the same way, naming them Improvement 1.0 Opening Protection, Improvement 2.0 Roof to Wall Attachment, Improvement 3.0 Roof Deck Attachment, and Improvement 4.0 Secondary Water Resistance. No category is called re-roof.

In cases where replacement of the roof covering is necessary to complete the installation of roof-to-wall attachments, roof deck attachments, or secondary water resistance (SWR) Recommended Improvements, associated roof covering replacement costs will be eligible for Grant funding. Replacement of the roof covering without improving the roof to wall attachments or roof deck attachments or adding secondary water resistance is not an eligible roof Improvement and not eligible for funding under the Program.

The covering is fundable as a consequence of hardening work, never as the point of it. Attaching the deck, tying it to the walls, or adding secondary water resistance can require the covering to come off, and the program will pay toward putting one back. Take the hardening away and the same job is not eligible.

Partial work is out as well. The program states that "Roof patching or other partial repairs of the roof will not be eligible for funding under the Program." The replacement has to be whole: the program allows the applicant's choice of covering, "such as tile, metal, or shingle so long as the entire pitched roof, entire flat roof, or both are replaced."

The program does not dictate a material. If the hardening work qualifies and the covering comes off, what goes back on is your decision, on cost, weight, and how the assembly will document on a wind mitigation form.

Who qualifies

The gates come from s. 215.5586(1)(a)2. and (2)(a), F.S., as they read in 2026. All of them apply together.

• Site-built and owner-occupied.
• A detached residential property, or an attached one not exceeding three stories.
• A homestead exemption under chapter 196, F.S.
• Insured value of $700,000 or less.
• Built before January 1, 2008, as reflected on the county property appraiser's website.
• An initial program hurricane mitigation inspection completed within the 24 months immediately preceding the application.
• Agreement to a final inspection after the work is done.
• Agreement to report the insurance discounts received as a result of the work.
• The applicant is a low-income or moderate-income person as defined in s. 420.0004, F.S.

The 2008 date is the year on the county property appraiser's record, not the year you believe the house was built. A 2010 home does not qualify, no matter how much hardening it could use.

Low-income and moderate-income, defined

The program's 2025 Program Update flyer defines low income as at or below 80 percent of county median income, and moderate income as below 120 percent. Applicants are sorted into four priority groups: Group 1 is low-income applicants aged 60 and over, Group 2 is low-income applicants of all ages, Group 3 is moderate-income applicants aged 60 and over, and Group 4 is moderate-income applicants of all ages. The flyer's own summary is that higher income households will not be eligible for grants at this time.

One thing may survive that restriction. The same 2025 Program Update flyer states that should there be any un-used home inspection funds remaining after all low and moderate income households have been served, the program may open home inspection applications for higher income households on a limited basis. That is a conditional the program controls, not a benefit you can count on, and the flyer attaches it to inspections only. Grants stay closed to higher income households either way.

The free inspection stands alone

A free wind mitigation inspection is a hard prerequisite for a grant. It also stands on its own: the report tells you what your house actually has at the roof-to-wall connection, at the deck, and at every opening.

Under s. 215.5586(1), F.S., the inspections are delivered by wind certification entities under contract to the Florida Department of Financial Services, and that same subsection sets who may perform one: a licensed building inspector, a general, building, or residential contractor, a professional engineer, a professional architect, or a home inspector, each holding at least three hours of hurricane mitigation training approved by the Construction Industry Licensing Board. It is a defined credential, not a marketing visit from a contractor.

The 18-month clock

Under s. 215.5586(2)(j), F.S., a grantee must finalize construction and request the final inspection within 18 months after the grant application is approved. Miss it and the application is deemed abandoned, and the money reverts. The clock starts at approval, not at contract signing, so time spent choosing a contractor is time spent off the clock.

The opening protection trap

The program states: "If you currently have compliant hurricane shutters, but request disbursement for impact windows instead, the request will be denied... The Grant cannot be used to exchange one type of opening protection for another." Only the specific openings recommended in the Initial Inspection Report are eligible. An upgrade from one compliant product to a nicer compliant product is not a mitigation improvement in the program's terms.

Not an entitlement, and it expires

The opening paragraph of s. 215.5586, F.S., says so directly: "This section does not create an entitlement for property owners or obligate the state in any way to fund the inspection or retrofitting of residential property in this state. Implementation of this program is subject to annual legislative appropriations." Meeting every criterion above is not the same as receiving funds.

The appropriation figure we can source is $280 million, and it is for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which closed on June 30, 2026. Treat it as history rather than as money sitting available today. We are not printing a figure for a later fiscal year, because we have not verified one.

Date any statement you read about this program, including this one. The 2026 amendments were made by s. 94, ch. 2026-233, Laws of Florida, and they expire July 1, 2027, at which point the section reverts to its June 30, 2026 text. A page written about MSFH in 2024 is describing a different statute than the one quoted here.

What lowers your premium anyway

This part applies to every reader, including the ones the income test just excluded. Section 627.0629(1), F.S., requires insurers to price windstorm mitigation into residential property rates.

A rate filing for residential property insurance must include actuarially reasonable discounts, credits, or other rate differentials, or appropriate reductions in deductibles, for properties on which fixtures or construction techniques demonstrated to reduce the amount of loss in a windstorm have been installed or implemented. The fixtures or construction techniques must include, but are not limited to, fixtures or construction techniques that enhance wind uplift prevention, roof strength, roof covering performance, roof-to-wall strength, wall-to-floor-to-foundation strength, opening protection, and window, door, and skylight strength.

The obligation runs to the insurer, and it does not ask how the work was paid for. Grant money, cash, or financing, the rate treatment is the same. What the statute requires is proof.

The form is OIR-B1-1802

The Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, OIR-B1-1802, is how mitigation features are documented to a carrier. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation cites Section 627.0629, F.S. and Rule 69O-170.0155, F.A.C. as its authority. A new revision took effect April 1, 2026, superseding the January 2012 revision. If someone hands you a 2012 form this year, it is the wrong document.

The form is valid for up to five years, provided no material changes are made to the structure and no inaccuracies are found on the form. What counts as a material change is for the inspector and your carrier to determine, not us. Have the form completed after the roof work, not before, so the finished assembly is what gets documented.

A related statute, s. 627.711, F.S., governs the notice insurers must give about premium discounts and which inspectors a carrier has to accept on the form. Whether discounts must exist at all is a different question, and that one is s. 627.0629.

Where the building code fits

Southwest Florida is outside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone. The HVHZ is Miami-Dade and Broward counties only. The Wind-Borne Debris Region is a different and site-specific test, based on the ultimate design wind speed at the site and the distance from the coastal mean high water line. Parcels across Lee, Collier, and Charlotte County fall inside the Wind-Borne Debris Region, but whether yours does is a per-parcel determination, and a homeowner should confirm their own address with their county building department rather than take a contractor's word for it. Current code is the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), effective December 31, 2023.

No federal tax credit for a roof

Expect to see the grant paired with a claimed federal credit. There is not one for roofing in 2026.

Roofing is shut out on subject matter before timing even matters. The IRS states of the Residential Clean Energy Credit that "Traditional building components that primarily serve a roofing or structural function generally don't qualify." The Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit, which once reached certain roofing products, applies per the IRS to property "placed in service on or after Jan. 1, 2023, and before December 31, 2025." Both are closed to a 2026 roof. The precise cutoff test differs between the two credits and matters mainly for solar, which we cover separately. This is not tax advice; take your own facts to your tax professional.

Working with PrimeBid Energy LLC

PrimeBid Energy LLC is a Florida Certified Roofing Contractor. We do the roofing work. The state runs My Safe Florida Home, and we have no role in it: we cannot get you a grant, move you up a priority group, expedite an application, or influence eligibility. Anyone telling you otherwise is describing something that does not exist.

We scope a roof against the improvement categories the program funds, so a proposal lines up with an Initial Inspection Report instead of talking past it. Roof-to-wall attachment, roof-deck attachment, and secondary water resistance are the categories that carry a covering replacement with them. Design, permitting, and installation run as one team, end to end.