The Fortified Homes grant program recently received $30 million in funding and could begin taking applications by October for Louisiana homeowners to strengthen the quality of their roof construction. House Insurance Chairman Mike Huval says offering these grants will motivate homeowners to upgrade.
“This will ensure that policyholders who put in the time, money, and effort to build or retrofit their structures to fortified standards reap the benefits of that decision and will encourage more property owners to build to the fortified standard.”
The program will allow homeowners to receive as much as $10 thousand to retrofit their roofs to the Fortified standard which will make their homes stronger in the face of future hurricanes. The program mirrors Alabama’s efforts where more than 35,000 homes have been built or upgraded to the Fortified standard. The Breaux Bridge Representative says additional legislation requires insurers to change existing policies.
“Which requires insurers to offer an endorsement of the homeowner’s policies that would upgrade the policyholder’s non-fortified roof to the fortified roof standard if the home incurs damage requiring a roof replacement.”
Certified builders install the roofs and the quality of work is verified by a third party. Homeowners will then receive a certificate to provide to their insurer to receive the discount. Huval says this was an important step to make homes safer.
“We know in order to continue our way of life in south Louisiana, we must build higher and stronger. The fortified standard is the best way to do that, so it’s important that the legislature took action to achieve that goal this session.”
Anyone interested in staying updated on programs and details visit ldi.la.gov.
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