House Jobs and Entrepreneurship Council Meeting Review

On Friday, February 8, 2008, the House Jobs and Entrepreneurship Council (“Council”) held a meeting to discuss the My Safe Florida Home Program(“MSFHP”). To view the complete meeting packet, click here.

During the meeting, the Council heard from Tamie Torres, Special Programs Manager of the MSFHP, and executives from Home Depot.

Council Chairman Ron Reagan opened the meeting and, after brief introductory remarks, recognized Ms. Torres.

Ms. Torres gave an overview of the MSFHP, which expects to provide free home inspections for 400,000 Floridians and matching grants of up to $5,000 for 35,000 Floridians during the MSFHP three-year time frame. As of this meeting, 148,908 inspections have been completed.

MSFHP has a total budget of $250 million over three years. All single-family, site-built homes are eligible for the inspections. Nearly 23 percent of the homes inspected are insured with Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”) and the inspections alone have resulted in an average insurance savings of $224 per policy.

MSFHP is provided to homesteaded properties valued at less than $300,000 and located in wind-borne debris regions. Thirty percent of the grant applicants are insured with Citizens.

Next, executives from Home Depot provided a review of their partnership with the MSFHP.

Home Depot currently serves as the certified contractor for the MSFHP and has been approached by the Department of Financial Services to implement a limited, no-interest loan program for homeowners to install mitigation measures. The loan would be limited to $5,000 and Home Depot would set up a financing tool for the first $5,000 spent.

With no other business before the Council, the meeting concluded.

 

Please feel free to contact this office should you have any questions.

 

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an e-mail to ccochran@cftlaw.com