Florida My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) Grant Calculator

How this calculator works

The My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) program is a Florida-state-funded hurricane-mitigation grant program established by F.S. § 215.5586. Originally enacted in 2006 and relaunched in 2022 after a multi-year funding hiatus, it pairs a free wind-mitigation inspection with a 2:1 matching grant — every $1 a qualifying homeowner contributes unlocks $2 of state funding, up to a $10,000 state ceiling. The arithmetic is simple: a homeowner who contributes the full $5,000 captures the full $10,000 state match, yielding $15,000 of total project funding for hurricane-mitigation upgrades on an owner-occupied Florida homestead.

The calculator runs three things in sequence:

1. Eligibility gate. Three prongs must all be satisfied: owner-occupied Florida homestead with the homestead exemption claimed; insured (replacement-cost) value at or below $700,000; current MSFH wind-mitigation inspection on file. If any prong fails, the verdict surfaces which gate is failing and the state-match dollars drop to zero.
2. Match arithmetic. Below the $5,000 homeowner contribution, the match scales proportionally — a $2,500 contribution captures $5,000 in state match and yields $7,500 of total funding. Above $5,000, the match caps at $10,000 and additional homeowner dollars go in at 1:0 (no extra match). The calculator handles all three regions.
3. Premium-discount payback. Once the upgrades are installed and a new Form OIR-B1-1802 is on file with the carrier, the wind-mit credit on the windstorm portion of premium reduces under F.S. § 627.0629. The calculator multiplies the entered current windstorm premium by the expected post-mitigation discount percentage, and computes the simple payback on the homeowner's contribution as that contribution divided by the annual premium savings.

The program's design intent is to make hurricane mitigation economically rational at the household level. The state match cuts the upfront barrier by two-thirds; the premium discount typically retires the homeowner's $5,000 contribution within 3-7 years for a typical Florida coastal home. Beyond that window, the discount is pure annual savings, every year, for as long as the upgrades stay in place and the Form 1802 stays current with the carrier.

A worked example: Tampa Bay homestead, $3,000/yr windstorm

A Tampa Bay owner-occupied homestead with $400,000 insured value (under the $700K cap), free MSFH inspection completed last quarter. Planned scope: hurricane-rated impact windows across all openings plus a roof-to-wall double-wrap upgrade during the planned reroof. Contractor quotes the full project at $15,000. The homeowner contributes the full $5,000, capturing the maximum $10,000 state match. Total project funding: $15,000 — the entire project is funded.

Current annual windstorm premium: $3,000. After the new Form 1802 is on file, the carrier captures a combined wind-mit discount in the 30% range. Annual savings: $900/year. Payback on the homeowner's $5,000 contribution: 5.6 years. Year 6 onward, the $900/year is recurring savings — over a 20-year horizon the cumulative savings reach $18,000, substantially more than the homeowner's contribution.

The match arithmetic in three regions

The 2:1 match operates in three distinct regions:

• Below $5,000. Linear scaling. A $3,000 contribution captures $6,000 state match → $9,000 total funding. The right framing for households that cannot front the full $5,000.
• At $5,000. Full match captured. $5,000 homeowner + $10,000 state = $15,000 total funding. The program's design center.
• Above $5,000. Match caps at $10,000; additional homeowner dollars go in at 1:0. A $7,500 contribution yields $17,500 total funding with $2,500 counted as homeowner-funded gap. The right framing for projects whose scope runs above the $15,000 ceiling.

The calculator models all three regions and reports the state-match dollars, homeowner share, total project funding, and funding gap vs the entered project cost.

Five eligible improvement categories

MSFH funds five wind-mitigation categories under the current program rules:

• Opening protection. Hurricane-rated impact glazing, TAS-tested hurricane shutters, accordion shutters, or roll-down shutters covering all glazed openings. Highest-leverage single category — captures the largest wind-mit credit (18%-22% of windstorm premium) and is the most commonly funded category in the program.
• Reroofing to FBC standards. A new roof meeting current Florida Building Code requirements. MSFH typically funds the wind-mit-incremental portion of a reroof (deck re-nailing, SWR layer); the baseline reroof cost is generally not covered.
• Roof-to-wall connections. Upgrading from toe-nail or clip to single-wrap or double-wrap hurricane straps. Highest-credit-swing roof-category upgrade — 0% to 22% on the windstorm premium.
• Secondary water resistance (SWR). Self-adhered membrane or foam barrier applied to the roof deck before underlayment. 4% additive credit; far higher structural value during a covered hurricane event.
• Garage door bracing or replacement. Wind-rated garage doors or bracing kits. A failed garage door during a hurricane is a primary internal-pressurization failure mode — once internal pressure equalizes with external wind, the roof is at substantially higher uplift risk.

Items outside these five categories — interior renovation, landscaping, generators, solar — cannot be paid for with MSFH grant funds.

Priority status, the funding queue, and enrolled contractors

Florida residents age 60 or older, and applicants with documented disability, receive priority queue placement when program funding is constrained. Priority does NOT change the grant amount or the match ratio — it changes processing speed. Since the 2022 relaunch, the program has cycled between open application windows (when newly appropriated funds are available) and waitlist or closed windows (when the appropriation is exhausted). The 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions each appropriated additional rounds. Check the DFS MSFH portal at mysafeflhome.com for current program status before planning a contractor scope around grant funds.

MSFH grant funds can only be paid to enrolled contractors — Florida-licensed contractors who have completed the program's enrollment and training requirements. The enrolled-contractor list is maintained on the DFS portal. Homeowners may get quotes from any contractor, but for grant funds to flow the selected installer must be on the enrolled list. Verify county-level availability before relying on grant funds for project timing — post-storm capacity is often over-subscribed.

What the calculator does not do

This calculator is a planning estimator. It does not:

• Quote a specific project. Get at least three written quotes from MSFH-enrolled contractors before relying on the entered project cost. Regional pricing varies substantially across Florida.
• Guarantee funding availability. Program funding is replenished each legislative session and runs out periodically. The calculator cannot model queue position in real time.
• Capture the structural benefit of the upgrades beyond the wind-mit credit. The credit dollars are a small slice of the total value — a covered hurricane claim on an upgraded home routinely shows tens of thousands of dollars less in interior damage than an unhardened home.
• Substitute for the Form 1802 refiling step. The wind-mit credit only materializes once a Florida-licensed inspector files an updated Form 1802 with the carrier post-install. Skipping that step is the most common failure mode — the upgrade is installed, but the carrier never pays the credit because the new form never reaches them.

How this page is maintained

F.S. § 215.5586 and the underlying MSFH program rules are revised each Florida legislative session. We refresh this page after each session — including any changes to the match ratio, the state-funded cap, the insured-value eligibility threshold, the eligible-improvement categories, and the priority-applicant rules. If the legislature substantively changes the program structure, this page is updated and re-stamped within the quarter.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-15 against F.S. § 215.5586, F.S. § 627.0629, F.S. § 627.711; current DBPR / DFS My Safe Florida Home Program rules (2024-2026 program cycle); Florida wind-mit market pricing 2024-2026.