Residential Mitigation - Rebuild Northwest Florida

The Residential Hurricane Mitigation Program

Rebuild Northwest Florida’s Residential Hurricane Mitigation Program is the only one of its kind in the United States. There are no income or home value criteria to participate in the program. Our goal is to provide homeowners in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties with assistance to fortify their homes against hurricane force winds.

Program Funding

With this specific program, FEMA provides 75% of the cost of improvements and the homeowner is responsible for the additional 25% of the cost.

Why Mitigate?

Mitigating a home means strengthening it against hurricane force winds to make it safer, providing increased levels of protection for homeowners and their families.

Other benefits may include:

Reduced property loss due to hurricane force winds.
Eligibility to receive discounts on windstorm insurance.
Less damage to irreplaceable possessions.
Less likelihood of homeowner displacement immediately following a storm.
Increased resale value of home.

Program Process

1. Initial Eligibility is Determined

After you “sign up” or contact our office we will use the information to determine initial eligibility. These include:

Applicants must occupy a single-family detached home as their principal residence.
The unit must be an owner-occupied home.
Homestead exemption is required.
The property cannot be a mobile or manufactured home, apartment, duplex, or town home.
The home must be built before the 2002 Florida Building Code.

2. Application Completed

After initial eligibility is determined you will be offered an opportunity to complete the application program. You can come into our office or complete this process by email.

3. Inspections and Engineering

After the application is complete and the $200 inspection deposit is paid, REBUILD will schedule an inspection of your home. A licensed structural engineer will review the inspection results to determine a recommended scope of work.

4.Bidding

The inspection information is submitted to our funders for approval. After approval is received we will request a bid for your project.

5. Notification and Paperwork

You will be notified after the bidding process of your final payment. The final payment along with additional “closing” paperwork is required before construction can begin.

6. Construction

Once the final paperwork is completed, the project is released to the construction management firms to begin construction.

7. Final Inspections

Once all the construction projects are complete, a final inspection by a Quality Assurance inspector will be completed. This inspection is used to complete any insurance forms that may be helpful to you and ensure that the work was completed in a professional manner.

What is covered by the grant?

These grant awards are for the following approved mitigation categories as set forth in 215.5586(2)(e), Florida Statutes:

Construction assistance is restricted to a REBUILD-approved, licensed inspector’s recommendations, which may vary with each home.
All construction work is performed by REBUILD-approved, licensed and insured construction management firms.