This Florida program offers money to boost your home. How does it work?

st. PETERSBURG – Like thousands of other homeowners in Tampa Bay, Leonard Berner and his wife are measuring what to do after more than a foot of water floods the Gulfport home during Hurricane Helen.

Do you lift their home? Shall we demolish it and try again? Are you leaving the coast?

Burner hopes a new program called Elevate Florida will be the answer.

The state-run program offers to pay at least 75% of the cost of the mitigation project, such as lifting homes, tearing or rebuilding properties. It promises to save thousands of residents, lower insurance and increase property value.

After attending an information meeting earlier this month, Burner is optimistic and the program may protect his home from future storms. But he is worried about the $400 million federal funds the state has set aside for the program.

“It’s going to be a dream,” he said.

The program is in its early stages and key questions remain. How long does the process take? Who is the contractor handling the major renovations? And how many homes will the state choose for the program?

We’ve broken anything we know.

What is Elevate Florida?

Florida Emergency Management Department, which runs the project – describes Elebeite as a “statewide housing mitigation program” designed to protect Florida from flooding.

Agency director Kevin Guthrie spoke to Senator Florida on February 4, days before the portal was opened for applications.

“We’ve raised them out of floods, so we’re going to create a situation where their future flood insurance is less,” Guthrie said.

The program allows residents to receive financial support for four types of projects: structural elevation, reconstruction, hardening against wind damage, or acquiring and destroying local government property.

Applicants must be an adult US citizen and own residential property in Florida, and the state says they can donate up to 25% of the total project cost.

The state says the maximum federal cost share for a reconstructed property is $220,000. Documents that boost the Florida website do not outline other grant restrictions.

The state expects to be able to fund around 950 properties, according to a webinar held for Florida County on February 12. Last year’s hurricane damaged tens of thousands of homes in Tampa Bay alone.

The state said it is a national flood insurance program, prioritizing housing that is considered to be a recurring loss due to something that has been substantially damaged or that is in the flood zone.

The state calls it the “first time” program.

Elevate Florida is similar to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program. Under that program, counties require funding for individual property, and approval is up to the state and federal governments.

Elevate Florida allows homeowners to apply for money themselves. Furthermore, residents are not competing with people from other states.

According to the FAQ document, the program is “designed to significantly reduce the time it takes to apply and complete a project.”

How is Elevate Florida funded?

The $400 million Guthrie said the state secured for Florida promotion comes from two rapid FEMA grant programs in Hazard Reduction Grants Program and Flood Mitigation Support. Both grants are available after major disasters.

Amid a cut in federal spending, Florida promotion said they should get money and that the program would not move forward.

This program uses a cost-share model. At best, residents must pay up to 25% of the total project cost, but under the National Flood Insurance Program, it may be less likely that real estate is considered a recurring loss. The applicant portion can also be covered by SME management loans.

According to the state, after the project is completed, participants will need to maintain coverage from the National Flood Insurance Program for the lifetime of the structure. If the property owner does not obtain compensation or voluntarily withdraws the project after it is approved, officials say the owner must pay back federal stock in the project to the state.

The Florida Department of Emergency Management did not respond to multiple requests for details regarding Florida’s levate.

In the county webinar, authorities said they received more than 1,500 applications. Pinellas County has the largest share of applicants, at around 75%.

Guthrie told the senator that funds could increase if the county chose to redistribut some of the hazard mitigation grants from Helen and Milton. These grants are typically used for more resilient planning and reconstruction after natural disasters.

Pinellas County received about $300 million from these grants, Guthrie said.

In an email to the Times, the county said the decision to use the grant is left to a local mitigation strategy working group that has not yet decided to use it to promote Florida.

What is a timeline?

State forecasts suggest that Florida elevator projects could take seven months to a year and a half from the start of applications until the project is completed.

At the low end of that estimate, the project ends during the peak hurricane season.

At the high end of that projection, the process ends when the 2025 season ends, but could be much faster than other federal options.

For example, Monroe County applied for the FEMA Flood Mitigation Support Grant in 2021. The grants the county planned to use to promote several homes are still under review, said Mike Lalbachan, the county’s mitigation manager and former FEMA project manager.

The county was approved to promote the home with other federal grant approval, but was forced to return the money because they couldn’t find a contractor to travel to the key, Lalbachan said.

Who is the contractor working in Elevate Florida?

The state says only licensed and approved contractors can boost the Florida project.

On March 13, the state began requesting proposals from contractors to provide “inspection and assessment services.” According to the request, authorities say they will select contractors by mid-April, more than two months after the state began applying from residents.

According to the “Scope of Work” document, contractors are expected to help states streamline mitigation projects and will hold a “kick-off meeting” within a week of selecting a contractor.

Lalbachan said the potential number of projects in Florida will seduce contractors. Although there were several homes in his county, it would be a bigger incentive for over 900 people to come to Florida in the state.

Is it enough to boost Florida?

Elevate Florida may not be fast enough for residents equipped for this year’s hurricane season (starting June 1) or those still upset from their last settlement.

Helen’s flooding flooded Jack Doerty’s Riviera Bay home in late September. He and his wife have since spent several months in a temporary home across from Tampa Bay.

Dougherty said he applied to extend Florida within an hour of opening the portal. He is not sure if the program will be able to help him in time.

“I’m already going through the process myself,” Dougherty said.

Since his application, Dougherty said the state has assigned him several different case managers. He had to resubmit the main documents at least twice as the case manager was unable to access it via the portal.

In the meantime, his house, like many others, is sitting empty and stripped to the bone.

“Based on the current process… it may take four months before you say “no.” Then I start with the squares,” Dougherty said.

He and his wife want to stay in Riviera Bay. Dougherty loves living on the water and he said the community is worth the stay.

Even if they haven’t grown Florida, Dorgerty hopes to grow their home by the second half of this year.

“I couldn’t do this again,” Dougherty said of his flooded home. “This definitely takes years from my life.”