The Louisiana Fortify Homes Program opened lottery registration for grants of up to $10,000 to pay for a fortified roof. The registration will continue through Friday 5 PM. The program offers 300 grants to residents living in Louisiana’s Coastal Zone. Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple says these grants were available last year on a first-come, first-served basis, after receiving feedback they decided to move to a lottery.
“Trying to improve and make sure we are running this program as efficiently as possible but also making it as potentially accessible to as many people as possible we wanted to change that format.”
The program is a proactive approach to reduce insurance costs and minimize the need for extensive rebuilding after hurricanes. The program will also place 200 registrants on a waiting list.
“So we wanted to have an additional 200 in the wings, as people drop out for various reasons.”
Temple emphasizes eligible residents must live in the state’s designated Coastal Zone, an area frequently affected by hurricanes, and it must be your primary residence.
“And the reason we’re limiting it to those Coastal Zones this round is the overall geographic area is a better risk profile. So we are trying to limit that to get the biggest return and the biggest impact for as many citizens as possible.”
Homeowners can register through the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program website, with recipients being notified the following week after the registration period closes.
The Department of Insurance says it’s experiencing a large volume of users, and that’s making it difficult for people to apply online. The department urges you to keep trying until the deadline of 5 PM Friday. Since it’s implementing a lottery system to choose 300 people, those who apply early do not have any advantage over those applying late in the application period.
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