[sunrico90]

What are your views on this program?

Whats your house inspected ?

What is your biggest concern?

[MrTudo]

Very scammish. But it's set up by the government so it should come as no surprise.

[sunrico90]

Each inspection firm must ensure that their inspectors pass Level 2 background checks, including fingerprinting and drug testing. Each inspector must also undergo the required education and training on mitigation techniques and the MSFH program.

“These inspection firms had to meet the strictest of criteria in order to be considered for this program,” said CFO Sink. “We want homeowners to be highly satisfied with the services they receive from the My Safe Florida Home Program once it expands statewide.”

Together, the 11 inspection firms have each been selected to serve in specific regions of the state to ensure maximum statewide service. After a 60-day ramp-up period, each firm has agreed to conduct a minimum of 1,000 inspections a week. Inspections firms were selected to cover specific regions, as detailed below:

*

Panhandle (Region 1) – AmeriPro Inspection and Thomas Enterprising
*

North Florida (Region 2) – AmeriPro, Skye Tec, and Alltech
*

Central Florida (Region 3) – Florida Real Property Administrators, JVI Inspections, Professional Service Industries, and Home Inspections.
*

South Florida (Region 4) – Applied Research and Associates, W.B. Sanders, Don Meyler Inspections, and Skye Tec

The pilot phase of the MSFH program was launched in late August 2006. During the MSFH program’s 2006 pilot phase, more than 14,000 free wind inspections were conducted in 17 counties. Along with an inspection report, these 14,000 homeowners received a grant application to apply for matching funds, and the department has received applications from more than 4,100 homeowners to date. These homeowners are currently

working with licensed contractors approved by the MSFH program and making recommended improvements to their homes. Once the work has been completed, the state will reimburse the homeowners for 50 percent of the actual cost of the improvements, up to $5,000. To date, more than $47,000 in grant money has been awarded to 19 Floridians in seven counties.

The MSFH program helps Floridians identify how they can strengthen their homes and reduces the overall potential for hurricane damage in our state. To achieve this goal, the program offers eligible homeowners a free home inspection by trained and qualified hurricane mitigation inspectors. Homeowners who have received these inspections also have the opportunity to apply for a matching grant of up to $5,000 to make recommended improvements.

[sunrico90]

The My Safe Florida Home program is working with the Volunteer Florida Foundation to offer low income families an opportunity to strengthen their homes against natural disasters.

1. You must meet the following qualifications:

*

Your household income must be 80% of the Annual Median Income or below. Click here to view the AMI chart. My Safe Florida Home

2. Contact the local organization in your county to help make your home safer:
Non-Profit Organization (Click on the name for more information) Contact Number County Served Other Contact Information

Liberia Economic & Social Development Corp. (Currently at capacity)
(954) 921-2371

Broward


lesincorp@aol.com

Volunteer Broward (Currently at capacity)
(954) 522-6761

Broward


sandy@volbrow.org

Rebuild Northwest Florida
(850) 497-7024

Escambia, Santa Rosa


mitigation@rebuildnwf.org

CREW
(863) 983-2390

Glades, Hendry


trishadams@unitedwaylee.org

Miami Beach Community Development Corporation
(Currently at capacity)
(305) 538-0090

Miami-Dade


ivette@miamibeachcdc.org

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, Inc. (Currently at capacity)
(305) 634-3628

Miami-Dade
telisa.williams@miamihabitat.com

Osceola Council on Aging, Inc.
(407) 846-8532

Osceola


dentr@osceola-coa.com

Indiantown Non-Profit Housing, Inc.
(772) 597-3667

Palm Beach


inphi@onearrow.net

We Help Community Development Corporation
(561) 993-0085

Palm Beach, Martin


whcdci@aol.com

Homes for Independence
(727) 538-7370

Pinellas


llkreisle@ourpeoplework.org

Rebuild Polk After Disaster
(863)294-4413, (863)679-1530

Polk


alices@uwcf.org

INTACT (Inspired Network to Achieve Community Together)(Currently at capacity)
(772) 462-1176

St. Lucie
MyersS@stlucieco.gov

[tallrick]

And what good is this going to do? I was going to strengthen my parent's home, but the permit hassles and threats of reassessment made me give up.

[daniellefort]

We had our house inspected just last month after being on the waiting list for over a year. Nothing we didn't expect and didn't already know we needed to do. Had to wait over a month to get the report in the mail. I've also heard it takes forever for them to reimburse you and having to use THEIR list of contractors didn't excite us either. Half the stuff we can do ourselves or have a friend do it but in order to get reimbursed, you MUST use one of their contractors on THEIR list and then hope the check comes in the mail. If it takes as long to reimburse as it did to get the inspection, no thanks. we'll gradually do it on our own time at our own pace.

The man who did our inspection said they are inspecting homes in the order they were recieved. He said if my neighbor signed up but they were not next in line, he would have to drive to the next persons home whether it's across the state or county then come all the way back rather than do inspections within a certain area all at one time. He said it's a waste of time and gas and he could get more people screened in one day if they just did it in a way to cover one region at a time rather than jumping around everywhere.

[riveree]

Why didn't they start with a program to reimburse us for getting hurricane shutters?

This would be less complex, and resolve one of the main points of entry.

The most vulnerable parts of your home are the windows, roof and garage door.

Starting to mess with the roof of an older home is a big endeavor, as Tallrick is alluding to above. But helping us with existing, easy to install products meant to strengthen the windows or garage doors would seem to make sense. Provide an online list of suppliers, I will purchase and have installed, the government can reimburse me for the total cost.....and no one has to poke around my house .

I'd go for something like that.

[mainship]

Applied last year, this year had inspection, more than a month with no report yet. Thanks for the headsup, Nice to know permiting by contractors will change taxation basis. I will save time, money and aggrivation by doing the work myself over time. As a private homeowner none of the changes I make will necessitate a permit as no structure will be changed. Reinforcing and reroofing repair, adding window covers even adding tiedown strapping to increase wind resistance will be time and energy but not at contractors prices. This program is sounding like a lot of hype for very little good.

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by riveree

Why didn't they start with a program to reimburse us for getting hurricane shutters?

This would be less complex, and resolve one of the main points of entry.

The most vulnerable parts of your home are the windows, roof and garage door.

Starting to mess with the roof of an older home is a big endeavor, as Tallrick is alluding to above. But helping us with existing, easy to install products meant to strengthen the windows or garage doors would seem to make sense. Provide an online list of suppliers, I will purchase and have installed, the government can reimburse me for the total cost.....and no one has to poke around my house .

I'd go for something like that.

Smart and simple, I like it! Or for the do-it-yourselfers have them get a qualtity discount and sell them at reduced cost. Shutters are very overpriced. I have a no-contractor policy, I do not like having them on my property if I can avoid it.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by tallrick

Smart and simple, I like it! Or for the do-it-yourselfers have them get a qualtity discount and sell them at reduced cost. Shutters are very overpriced. I have a no-contractor policy, I do not like having them on my property if I can avoid it.

I have a "no-permit" policy myself !

I avoid pulling a permit when possible because it's just asking for your taxes to increase. If you are working on an older home, they will just continue to jack the taxes up, and at some point, you're halfway done with improvements, but now the taxes are so high, you have to wonder whether it's even worth it to continue fixing up the house......it's just not fair.

If you're willing to take on an older home in an older neighborhood the city should encourage you 'recycling' this older home, not discourage you!

But I digress......

Yes, a bulk discount on shutters.......how hard would that be?!