There is a state program that pays your condominium association two dollars for every dollar it spends on hurricane hardening — and most boards have never heard of it. The My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program, created by Florida Statute § 215.55871, gives coastal condo associations a free wind-mitigation inspection and a 2-to-1 matching grant of up to $175,000 to install impact windows, harden roofs, and protect openings. With insurance premiums still punishing coastal buildings and a new hurricane season underway, it is real money toward work many associations need anyway. The catches: the rules changed in 2025, the online portal has closed, and the program runs on whatever the Legislature funds each year. This guide walks a board through exactly how it works in 2026 — eligibility, the grant, the votes, and how to apply today.
This is general information about a Florida grant program, not legal or financial advice, and program terms change with each legislative session and budget. Confirm current eligibility, funding, and deadlines directly with the Department of Financial Services, and run any participation vote and grant contract past your association's attorney. This guide covers the condominium program under § 215.55871; single-family homeowners use the separate My Safe Florida Home program.
What the Condo Pilot actually is
The My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program sits inside the Department of Financial Services — the Florida CFO's office — and does two distinct things for a qualifying association. First, it pays for a free wind-mitigation inspection of the building by a state-approved inspector, which produces a report listing the specific improvements that would reduce the building's hurricane vulnerability. Second, it offers a matching grant to actually do that work: the state puts in $2 for every $1 the association spends, up to $175,000 per association.
Think of it as the condominium version of the long-running My Safe Florida Home program that has helped single-family homeowners harden their houses for years. The Legislature created the condo pilot in 2024 and overhauled it in 2025, and it is squarely aimed at the coastal, multi-story buildings that have been hit hardest by Florida's insurance crisis. For many associations, the covered work — impact windows, opening protection, roof hardening — is the same work they are already being pressured to fund through special assessments, which is what makes a 2-to-1 match worth a board's attention.
Is it open right now?
This is the first thing to get straight, because the answer changed. The program is still operating — but the online application portal has been discontinued. When the program first launched it was so oversubscribed that it reached capacity within about a week, and the state has since moved intake off the self-service portal entirely.
- There is no online portal anymore. Do not waste time looking for one.
- Apply by email to condopilot@myfloridacfo.com, or call (850) 413-2971. The program commits to responding within 48 hours.
- Funds are limited. The official program materials state plainly that approval of an inspection application does not guarantee grant funding — awards depend on what the Legislature appropriates.
Because the program runs on annual appropriations, its capacity rises and falls with the state budget. We cover the current funding picture near the end of this guide — but the practical takeaway is that a board interested in the program should get its inspection application in by email now and treat a grant as subject to funding availability, not a sure thing.
Who qualifies
Eligibility is where boards most often get the wrong information, partly because a 2026 bill that would have tightened it was widely reported — and then died. Here is what the current statute actually requires of the building and the association.
| Requirement | What § 215.55871 says |
|---|---|
| Building height | Three or more stories |
| Units | At least two residential units in the building (no detached units on separate parcels) |
| Location | Within 15 miles of the coastline |
| Association type | Residential condominium association under Chapter 718 |
| Inspections current | Compliant with the milestone (§ 553.899) and SIRS (§ 718.112) requirements |
| Building age | No age limit — despite what you may have read |
| Homestead / value | None — those rules belong to the Home program |
A 2026 bill (HB 1497 / its Senate companion) proposed limiting the condo program to older, pre-2008 buildings, adding insured-value caps, and even changing the coastal-distance rule. It died in committee on March 13, 2026. None of those restrictions became law. The current eligibility gate is simply 3+ stories, 2+ units, and within 15 miles of the coast — with no building-age, homestead, or value test. If a source tells you your condo must be pre-2008 to qualify, they are quoting a bill that failed.
The milestone and SIRS prerequisite
There is one eligibility condition that trips up associations that have fallen behind on the post-Surfside building-safety rules: you must be current on your statutory inspections to use this program. The statute conditions participation on the association having complied with the milestone inspection requirements of § 553.899 and the structural integrity reserve study under § 718.112.
The logic is sensible: the state is not going to fund wind hardening on a building whose owners are dodging the structural-safety regime that the same Legislature imposed after Surfside. The practical effect is that the Condo Pilot rewards associations that have done their compliance homework. If your building still owes a milestone inspection or has not completed its SIRS, getting those done is not just a separate legal obligation — it is the gate to this grant money. A board that is behind should treat the two as one project.
Step 1: the free inspection
Everything starts with the inspection, and it is genuinely free. Once the association votes to participate (see the votes section below) and notifies its owners, the program assigns a state-approved wind-certification inspector to evaluate the building. The inspector produces an initial inspection report that identifies which mitigation improvements the building would benefit from — and, critically, only the improvements named in that report are eligible for a grant.
This sequencing matters for two reasons. First, you cannot decide on your own what to harden and expect reimbursement; the inspection defines the menu. Second, the inspection is valuable on its own even if the association never pursues a grant — it is a professional, state-funded assessment of the building's wind vulnerability that can inform your reserve planning and your opening-protection decisions regardless. There is no cost and no obligation to proceed to a grant after the inspection.
Step 2: the 2-to-1 match grant
If the association decides to do the recommended work, the grant covers it on a $1-to-$2 match: for every dollar the association puts toward the project, the state contributes two, up to a maximum total state contribution of $175,000 per association. That ceiling covers roof and opening-protection work combined — it is a single cap per association, not per building or per unit.
- The 2025 amendment (HB 393) removed the old per-category dollar sub-caps — the former limits of roughly $11 per square foot of roof, $750 per window or door, and $1,000–$1,500 per unit, plus a 50%-of-cost ceiling, are gone.
- The only quantitative limits in current law are now the 2-to-1 match and the $175,000-per-association cap. If a calculator or article still applies the per-window or per-square-foot caps, it is using repealed 2024 figures.
One structural point boards must plan around: this is a reimbursement grant. The association generally fronts the full cost of the project and is reimbursed the state's share after the work is completed, inspected, and verified. That has a cash-flow implication — the association needs the money available up front, often through reserves or a special assessment — and an absolute rule attached to it, covered below: do not start the work before the grant is approved.
What work qualifies
Eligible improvements fall into two families, and within them only what your inspection recommends is covered:
- Roof-related work: roof-deck attachment, roof-to-wall connections, secondary water resistance, and roof-covering replacement.
- Opening protection: impact-resistant windows, exterior doors, garage doors, and skylights — or approved shutters.
Two limits surprise boards. First, for opening-protection grants, the windows generally must be established as a common element in the declaration — if windows are unit owners' individual responsibility under your documents, that affects eligibility, and it is worth confirming with counsel before you build a plan around window replacement. Second, the grant cannot be used to swap one already-compliant form of protection for another — a building that already has code-compliant hurricane shutters cannot use grant money simply to upgrade to impact windows. The program funds new mitigation, not lateral changes.
The two votes
Participation is governed by two separate votes at two different stages, and confusing them is a common mistake.
Vote 1 — to get the inspection
- A majority vote of the board of administration, or a majority of the total voting interests of the association.
- Then written notice to all unit owners within 14 days of the affirmative vote.
- This is all that is needed to receive the free inspection.
Vote 2 — to do the grant work
- Approval by at least 75% of the unit owners who reside within the building that is the subject of the grant.
- It counts resident owners of that building — not all owners across the condominium.
- A disclosure notice to owners is also required before the grant.
The second threshold is the one to plan for early. Because it counts the owners who reside within the affected building, a building with a high share of investor or seasonal owners has a smaller voting pool — which can cut both ways. Note this is the current rule: the original 2024 statute required a unanimous vote of all unit owners in the building, and the 2025 amendment lowered it to 75% of resident owners. Any source still citing a unanimous requirement is out of date. Given how much turns on the exact count, confirm the mechanics with your association's attorney before you call the vote.
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The five-stage process and deadlines
The program runs in five defined stages. Knowing the sequence prevents the two most expensive mistakes — starting work too early and missing a cure deadline.
- Inspection application. The board votes, notifies owners within 14 days, and submits the inspection application by email. Applications are reviewed in the order received.
- Initial inspection. A state wind-certification inspector evaluates the building and issues a report recommending eligible improvements — at no cost.
- Grant application. Only for the improvements the inspector recommended. Requires the 75% resident-owner vote, an owner disclosure notice, an intended-contractors list, and proof the work will earn an insurance premium credit. Do not begin any work yet.
- Final inspection. After the work is finished, a final inspection verifies it. You generally must request the final inspection (or an extension) within one year of grant approval, or the grant can be deemed abandoned.
- Reimbursement. Submit proof of payment and the insurance-discount documentation, and the state's matching share is disbursed.
- Starting the work before grant approval. The association must not perform any mitigation project until the grant application is approved — do it early and reimbursement is denied.
- Missing a cure deadline. If the state flags your application as needing more information, you generally have 60 days to respond or it is administratively closed as withdrawn.
- Letting the final-inspection clock run out. Request the final inspection (or an extension) within one year of approval.
Condo Pilot vs. My Safe Florida Home
Because the two programs share a brand, boards routinely apply the wrong rules. They are separate statutes with separate eligibility.
| My Safe Florida Home | My Safe Florida Condo Pilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Statute | § 215.5586 | § 215.55871 |
| Property | Site-built, single-family home | Residential condo building, 3+ stories, 2+ units |
| Homestead | Required | Not required |
| Building age | Generally permitted before 2008 | No age limit |
| Value cap | Insured-value limit applies | None |
| Applicant | The individual homeowner | The association (by board and owner vote) |
The takeaway: the pre-2008, homestead, and value rules everyone repeats are Home program rules. Do not let them talk your board out of applying — none of them apply to a condominium under § 215.55871.
The funding reality & key takeaways
The honest caveat on all of this is money. The program "is subject to annual legislative appropriations," so its capacity depends on the state budget each year. Over Memorial Day weekend 2026, the Legislature reached a budget deal reappropriating more than $405 million in unused funds across the My Safe Florida Home and Condo programs combined; that budget passed the Legislature in late May and was awaiting the Governor's signature as this was written. Note that the widely-cited backlog of roughly 45,000 inspected-but-unfunded applicants is the Home program's, not the condo program's — but it illustrates how demand has outrun funding across both. The lesson for a board is not to wait for perfect certainty: get the free inspection in motion and be ready to move when funding is available.
- The deal is real and generous: a free inspection plus a 2-to-1 state match up to $175,000 per association — the only limits in current law.
- Eligibility is simpler than the rumors: 3+ stories, 2+ units, within 15 miles of the coast, current on milestone and SIRS. No age, homestead, or value test for condos.
- The portal is gone — apply by email to condopilot@myfloridacfo.com or call (850) 413-2971.
- Two votes: board majority to inspect, 75% of resident owners in the affected building to do the work.
- It's a reimbursement grant — never start work before approval, and watch the 60-day cure and one-year final-inspection clocks.
- Don't confuse it with My Safe Florida Home — different statute, different rules.
Frequently asked questions
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