FLORIDA — ABC Action News continues to receive questions from viewers about the state's popular My Safe Florida Home Program. The grant program reimburses qualifying homeowners up to $10,000 dollars to harden their homes, with the goal of bringing down insurance rates. However, when the program opened back up for new applications on July 1st, funding for initial inspections quickly ran out... in less than 10 days.
"This program ran out of money before it even went live this year. Our application was accepted at 12:31 AM the first day and we were still told we learned later the program was out of money!!!!!! Very disappointing," wrote in viewer Don Knowles.
ABC Action News Anchor Nadeen Yanes traveled to Altamonte Springs for the state's second "Fixing Problems for Floridians" fair, where, for the first time, she was able to connect and get answers from the three-person team running the My Safe Florida Home Program.
Nadeen spoke with the program's Chief Business Officer, Steven Fielder. Here are her questions and his answers.
Q: In the My Safe Florida Home Program, what is your role?
A: I provide oversight. Literally, there are two employees. It's Tim and one lady in Tallahassee. It's all outsourced to a vendor, and we manage the vendors who manage the program.
Q: We hear from our viewers, they want in on this program. What's life been like for you since July 1st?
A: Very busy. We have had a lot of activity, lots of homeowners are excited and anxious honestly to get into the program. We know that we are in the middle of hurricane season, people want their homes protected as best as they can do, but we have had many phone calls, lots of emails and lots of inquiries. 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 their patience. We are trying the best that we can to get to everyone.
Q: Talk about staff-wise what are you doing to help 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 phones. I would encourage folks to use their account and their portal that they have as a way to communicate and receive information. We also have our Facebook Page and website which we try to post frequently to keep people informed about what's going on and answer questions that way as well to have multiple outlets to get to folks.
Q: Talk about what happened on July 10th. Explain to viewers what money ran out and where are we at right now.
A: Thank you for the opportunity to provide clarity to that. So, the legislature appropriated $200 million dollars to the program. From that $200 million, a portion was allocated to grants, a portion was allocated to initial inspections, and then, of course, there is initial overhead - to pay for people to answer the phones, answer emails, and so forth. The portion allocated to initial inspections was just $500,000 dollars, which translates into about 3,400 initial inspections. Those were all taken by around the 10th of this month. Because so many folks, thousands, in fact, had already had their initial inspection, and we were waiting for grant funds. So the decision was made that most of that $200 million needs to go to those folks and that population of people who have been waiting for the portal to re-open.
Q: The people who already had their inspections though are still being prioritized. So they aren't even guaranteed the grant money because of the prioritization system, correct?
A: Correct. The legislature has asked us to prioritize applicants we are currently in what we call Group 2. Group 1 was homeowners over 60, low-income. We are now in Group 2, which is all homeowners low-income. Groups 3 and 4 will be moderate income over and under 60. We will get to 5 last. At this point, the grant funding is holding up well and I think we will be able to get through all the groups but we can't guarantee, no guarantees. It all depends on the responses we get from homeowners. If they have their application in, that means if they are in Groups 1 and 2, that means they already had their inspection. We should have already validated they are homesteaded which is a requirement. By that point, the only other verification was the age and income. If they passed those hurdles, then the last one is your insured values which is a statuary requirement. Most people who get to this point, they should be okay.
Q: The new applications, did it take everybody? Or did it filter out low-income seniors from the start?
A: Knowing the legislature wanted prioritization. In June, we surveyed the homeowners who already had an inspection, we emailed them proactively and said, OK, we have this new requirement. How old are you? What is your income? Tell us that in advance,' We took that information in June and then prioritized those folks. So, the people applying in July should have no issue obtaining the funds.
Q: So for the folks who heard about the program in Groups 3, 4, and 5 and they haven't put an application in, they are pretty much out of luck at this point.
A: Correct. If you are at the front door of, 'I need an inspection,' you are correct. That money is exhausted for the time being. Certainly, the legislature hopefully will approve more money when they come back to town but for the time being our priority is those folks who already had their inspection and they had been waiting for the grant money. I understand the disappointment. I hope everyone understands we are trying to prioritize people who are past that first point and they had been waiting as well for grant funds. We are trying to plow most of the money into that population.
Q: How hopeful are you that this is going to get to Group 5?
A: For the grant applicants?
Q: Yes.
A: I'm going to say this. Based on those who replied to our survey in June, we know how many replied to the survey. So I'm very hopeful we will get to Group 5, we will not get through Group 5, if that makes sense.
Q: What is your reaction that the demand for this program is so high?
A: People want to do the right thing for their home, it's important it's their biggest investment. They want to make sure it's going to stand through the storm and protect the people who live there. I think they are interested in making sure they are doing the right thing for their home and of course, they are looking to save money on their insurance as well, because they all have to pay their bills and keep food on the tables.
Q: When is the condo pilot program expected to open up?
A: The condo program is new. While it is similar to this one, there are a lot of differences. I expect that one to be up and running hopefully by September. Again, we are having to build that from scratch. Just like this one, it is outsourced but it's a different vendor that will be running that one.
Q: And that is only for condo associations, correct?
A: Correct. Condo associations are all who can apply. Individual unit owners can not.
Q: Of the $200 million dollars for the original My Safe Florida Home Program, how much are we outsourcing for the vendor.
A: Of the $200 million, it's about $11 million. It's a percentage of the value so it's around $11 million dollars.
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