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REP. GRANT DELIVERS
TWO CHECKS FROM THE MY SAFE FLORIDA HOME
PROGRAM TO PORT CHARLOTTE RESIDENTS
WEDNESDAY
PORT CHARLOTTE –
On behalf of Florida Chief Financial Officer
Alex Sink and the My Safe Florida Home (MSFH)
program, Representative Michael Grant (R),
D-71, today personally delivered two
matching grant reimbursements, one for
$5,000 and the other for $4,863.43 to two
Port Charlotte homeowners who hardened their
homes through the state’s MSFH program.
“Mitigation is the best way to protect your
home, it will reduce the state’s exposure to
hurricane damage and can result in savings
on your wind insurance premium,” said CFO
Sink, who oversees the Department of
Financial Services. “I encourage more
Floridians to follow the Kaffs’ and Suttners’
lead to sign up for free wind inspections
through the My Safe Florida Home program.”
Doug and Judith Kaff, both 66-year-old real
estate agents of Port Charlotte, received a
grant reimbursement Wednesday for installing
opening protections. After having their home
inspected by a MSFH inspector, the Kaffs
received a report indicating that installing
permanently deployed protection to their
windows and replacing the garage door would
help harden their home to hurricanes.
Through the program’s matching grant
reimbursement of up to $5,000, the Kaffs
were able to afford improvements to protect
their home.
Paul and Jane Suttner, both 74-year-old
retirees of Port Charlotte, received a grant
reimbursement Wednesday after hardening
their garage door, windows and doors. Upon
receiving their inspection report, the
Suttners decided to reinforce their garage
door, add shutters to all the windows on
their home and add accordion doors.
After all the improvements were made, the
Suttners were reimbursed for half the cost
of improvements, totaling $4,863.43.
“This program will help families do twice as
much work for half the cost,” said Rep.
Grant. “It will save your property if
another storm strikes, and save you money on
insurance premiums right away.”
The MSFH program resumed offering wind
inspections and expanded statewide after
conducting a pilot program during the
previous year. Since April 2007, the MSFH
program has performed over 86,000 free wind
inspections. From the 14,289 homes inspected
during the program’s original pilot phase,
5,839 homeowners are eligible for matching
grants and are working with the MSFH program
to harden their homes. Statewide, the
program has issued a grand total of more
than 890 grants to homeowners for a total of
$2.8 million.
Currently, there are 328 homeowners in
Charlotte County, 433 homeowners in Lee
County and 468 homeowners in Sarasota County
hardening their homes through the MSFH
program. These homeowners are being
reimbursed for half the cost up to $5,000 on
a variety of home improvements, including
hurricane shutters, reinforced garage doors
and bracing gable ends.
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