GALLAGHER SHOWCASES FREE HOME
INSPECTION TO PROMOTE MY SAFE
FLORIDA HOME PROGRAM
HIALEAH— Tom Gallagher,
Florida’s chief financial officer,
today promoted the My Safe Florida
Home program by showcasing a free
mitigation inspection at the home of
Angelina Guixens, a senior living in
Hialeah. Gallagher kicked off the
$250 million mitigation program
yesterday at a Cabinet meeting in
Tallahassee, and said he expects to
serve as many as 50,000 Florida
families through this program.
The Department of Financial
Services, which is administering the
program, has already received more
than 19,000 applications for a free
home inspection.
“By fortifying homes, we are making
families and communities safer and
reducing the level of catastrophic
losses from hurricanes,” Gallagher
said. “We are committed to making
this program a success so the
Legislature strongly considers
funding this program for years to
come.”
“It is my top priority to protect
the residents of Hialeah and I am
proud to work with CFO Gallagher to
strengthen the homes in our
community and make them safer
against hurricanes,” said Julio
Robaina, mayor of the City of
Hialeah. “CFO Gallagher should be
applauded for taking proactive steps
to make our community safer and help
ease our insurance burden.”
The program was approved this year
by the Legislature to address the
state’s property insurance crisis
following eight hurricanes that
caused nearly $40 billion in insured
losses in the past two years.
Gallagher said of the 50,000 homes
he plans to serve through the
program, his goal is to inspect
12,000 homes before the end of this
hurricane season.
Ms. Guixens’ was the first home
inspected in the program in
Miami-Dade County. She will receive
a report within 7 to10 days
detailing the areas of her home that
could be strengthened to better
protect her and her home against
hurricanes. The report will include
an estimate of how much each of
those improvements would cost, the
expected insurance savings if the
improvements were made, and a rating
of the home’s current ability to
withstand a hurricane and the home’s
future ability with improvements.
Through the Department of Financial
Services partnership with Miami-Dade
County’s Mitigation Program and
Community Action Agency, low-income
homeowners like Ms. Guixens will
have the opportunity to make
recommended improvements using the
financial help provided through the
county matching its funds with the
My Safe Florida Home program.
“The state of Florida is to be
applauded for taking a leadership
role in making thousands of
Miami-Dade County homes safer in the
event of future high wind storms,”
said Bill Moriarty, Director of the
Weatherization Programs for the
Miami-Dade County Community Action
Agency.
“This new and innovative program
allows us to greatly expand on our
current efforts. We are now better
prepared to protect the more than
2.6 million residents of Miami-Dade
County,” said Frank Reddish, Local
Mitigation Strategy Director for the
Miami-Dade County Office of
Emergency Management.
Reddish said that the Miami-Dade
program has been putting free
hurricane shutters on the homes of
low-income elderly residents for
several years. Reddish says the
program is currently targeting
efforts to help low-income disabled
citizens. Reddish said that he works
with Moriarty with the Community
Action Agency to administer this
program. Not one of the homes we
retrofitted was damaged by the
hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, Reddish
said.
To apply for a free home inspection,
Floridians must live in a
single-family, site-built home with
an insured value of $500,000 or less
and have a valid homestead
exemption. Floridians can apply
on-line at www.mysafefloridahome.com
or by calling 1-800-342-2762 to get
an application packet. Homeowners
who undergo the My Safe Florida Home
inspection may also qualify for
matching grants of up to $5,000 to
fortify their homes.
The department is partnering with
city and county governments, as well
as non-profit organizations, to
expand the reach of the program and
to strengthen a greater number of
homes against catastrophic storms.
