Mitigation - Residential Construction Mitigation Program
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
The Residential Construction Mitigation Program (RCMP) receives $7 million
annually from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Trust Fund
(ch. 215.559, Florida Statutes):
- 40% ($2.8 million) is designated for the Mobile Home Tie-Down Program. Based on legislative directive the Division of Emergency Management provides the funding directly to Tallahassee Community College (TCC). By statute, TCC prepares a separate report for the Governor and the Legislature on these directives
- 10% ($700,000) is designated for Hurricane Research to be conducted by Florida International University (FIU) to continue the development of an innovative research of a full-scale structural testing to determine inherent weakness of structures when subjected to categories 1 to 5 hurricane-force winds and rain, leading to new technologies, designs and products.
- 50% ($3.5 million) is to be used to improve the wind resistance of residences through loans, subsidies, grants, demonstration projects, direct assistance, and cooperative programs with local and federal governments. The program is developed in coordination with Advisory Council whose members consist of representatives from the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida
Department of Insurance, the Federation of Manufactured Home Owners, the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, the Florida Insurance Council, and the Florida Home Builders
Association.
ELIGIBILITY:
An annual budget is determined by the Director of the Division of Emergency Management, in consultation with the 2008 - Advisory Council. All grants are award on a competitive basis Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) and Request for Proposals (RFP) processes.
DEADLINE TO APPLY:
NOFAs are advertised in the Florida Administrative Weekly and all RFPs
are issued via the www.myflorida.com web portal.
CONTRACT/GRANT PERIOD:
Contracts and grants can begin at any time during the fiscal year, but
must all be terminated by June 30 of the same fiscal year. The state
fiscal year is July 1 through June 30.
FUNDING SOURCE:
Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Trust Fund, Section 215.555 Florida Statutes
News
- New (RCMP) Competitive Grants Final Scores SFY 2007-2008
(PDF 7/1/2007)
- NOFA for
the Residential Construction Mitigation Program SFY 2007/2008 funding
cycle
(PDF 5/11/2007) Residential Construction Mitigation Program Application Packet June 2008 Version
- Mitigation Incentives Database
Access the Mitigation Incentives Database , the newest addition to our web site.
Florida Wind Incentives Website
This website allows Florida homeowners and builders to search for wind insurance incentives that are available for building features that reduce damage during high wind events like hurricanes. Building features that reduce wind damage include improved roof shingles, strong roof decks, hurricane clips/straps, impact resistant glazing or shutter protection for windows, roof shape, and other construction techniques.
Most existing houses have one or more wind resistive construction features and may qualify for some insurance discounts. In addition, houses built after 1994 in Miami-Dade or Broward Counties and houses built after 2002 in the rest of the state have many wind resistive construction features and will likely qualify for credits.
View the Florida Wind Incentives Website
FDEM LAUNCHES 24/7 MEDIA CENTER
The Florida Division of Emergency Management’s 24/7 Media Center is a video driven and interactive website developed to educate and inform residents about home and family safety in regards to wind mitigation issues. The Media Center will showcase events such as “Town Hall” Meetings, Public Service Announces, a Kid’s Education Forum, Wind Mitigation Education topics, links to “Get A Plan” and much more. Citizens can also watch and listen to “Craig’s Corner” where Division of Emergency Management Director, Craig Fugate, will speak on a monthly basis about issues and other topics related to wind mitigation.
| The Media Center requires the Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. |  |
Update 10/16/2007 Hurricane Retrofit Guide
This Guide is intended to help you decide how to protect your home against the winds and rains of hurricanes. And, it is intended to help you decide what protection measures to do first. You will find that many of the retrofits or protective measures are easy to do for a physically fit homeowner. Other things may require the expertise of a handyman or contractor. For some homeowners, the information may at various points be "over their head" because it becomes too technical. That is ok, because the guide is intended to provide the homeowner with ideas as well as providing people familiar with construction or in the construction business with the technical help they may need to protect your home.
View the Hurricane Retrofit Guide
Program Documents
Read the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program 2007/2008 and 2006/2007 Annual Reports to the Legislature.
Residential Construction Mitigation Program Advisory Council Roster
TYPE OF ASSISTANCE: Funds are used for programs to improve wind resistance of residences and mobile homes, including loans, subsidies, grants demonstration projects, and direct assistance; cooperative programs with local governments and the Federal Government; and other efforts to prevent or reduce losses or reduce the cost of rebuilding after a disaster. Listed below are the types of projects that have been funded during the 1999 - 2002 state fiscal years.
Residential Construction Mitigation Program Components:
- Florida International University Hurricane Research Program
- Mobile Home Tie-Down Program
- Low to Moderate Income Retrofit Project
- Florida Coastal Monitoring Project
- Disaster Contractor Network
Florida International University Hurricane Research Program
Of moneys provided to the Department, ten percent is allocated to Florida International University to conduct research on the following issues: (1) elimination of state and local barriers to upgrading existing mobile homes and communities; (2) recycling of existing older mobile homes; and, (3) hurricane loss reduction devices and techniques for site-built residences. Read about current and prior year research activities . Also, read more about Florida International University Hurricane Research Program - Homeowners Incentive Team First Year Report .
Forty-percent of the $7 million total ($2.8 million) appropriated by the Legislature shall be used to inspect and improve tie-downs for mobile homes. Section 215.559, Florida Statutes , authorizes the Department to contract with Tallahassee Community College to administer the mobile home tie-down program. Tallahassee Community College, while working with the advisory council, will develop a list of mobile home parks and counties that may be eligible to participate in the tie-down program.
The Mobile Home Tie-Down Program is a pilot project designed to demonstrate, test and raise awareness of new techniques to enhance manufactured home wind resistance. The goal is to reduce property damage from high wind events. A tie-down system is designed to secure the manufactured homes to the ground. Traditional tie-down systems use the longitudinal ground anchors and straps which sometimes corrode and disintegrate. The new tie-down system include lateral foundation systems with longitudinal stabilizer devices or ground stabilizer plates wherever possible. Tie-down retrofit services provided through this program must comply with the Rules of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Division of Motor Vehicles, Chapter 15C-1, General.
Low to Moderate Income Retrofit Project
Grant funds are provided to local governments to retrofit homes using recommended mitigation techniques. The Low to Moderate Income Project leverages local housing rehabilitation dollars (SHIP, HOME, CDBG) by funding simultaneous mitigation retrofits on homes undergoing general rehabilitation. Low to Moderate Income funds support homeowners, who might not otherwise be able to benefit from insurance discounts for certain mitigation features. The project hopes to minimize insured loss exposure, promote the use of sound residential retrofitting, educate the homeowner to practical and affordable ways to strengthen homes, and increase public awareness. Detailed retrofit techniques can be found in the publication, Blueprint For Safety . The publication highlights roof, wall and floor and foundation systems. Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association policyholders currently receive premium discounts up to fifty-percent for certain lost-prevention improvements to their homes.
Florida Coastal Monitoring Program
The goal of the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program is to gather valuable research into the damage caused to Florida homes by hurricanes or other high wind events. The program offers the unique opportunity to document and assess damage that occurs to structures along Florida's coast from hurricanes or other high wind events and the effectiveness of recommended retrofitting techniques. A list of the retrofitted homes to be monitored is available for review. This project will have a very significant impact on the current science and our knowledge of the behavior of wind. This real world project will make it possible to prevent future destruction from ever taking place through the application of proven mitigation techniques.
Homes in high risks areas of Florida's coastline have been retrofitted using recommended mitigation techniques for wind resistance. To properly assess the benefits of retrofitting, monitoring equipment will be installed on the participating residences. The monitoring system includes pressure sensors, an uninterruptible power supply and video camera to capture how the home reacts to hurricane force winds and tracks any destruction that may occur. The resulting data will be compared to other homes in the same area that have not been retrofitted.
The Florida Home Builders Association in conjunction with the Florida Public Affairs Center and partner organizations contracted with the Department to develop a statewide Disaster Contractor Network . The Disaster Contractor Network will train local associations of major contractor organizations in Florida in disaster management; specifically, to coordinate with local emergency management officials to facilitate their members involvement in meeting the needs of victims impacted by disasters. The local associations include the Florida Home Builders Association, Associated Builders and Contractors, Association of General Contractors and Roofing, Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors.
The Disaster Contractor Network will provide a training program for executive officers of contractor organizations in a train the trainer format aimed at understanding the emergency management process and developing post-disaster strategies. The executive officers will train their membership in emergency management skills and techniques designed to ensure products and services meet customers needs more efficiently and effectively following a disaster. The key to recovering quickly from disasters is to have contractors that are educated about the programs, standards and incentives that are in place to encourage disaster resistant construction. A more informed contractor network coupled with homeowner awareness will hopefully create an environment that results in disaster resistant communities.
Disaster Contractor Network, www.dcnonline.org See Residential Construction Mitigation Program Component write-up above.
Federal Alliance for Safe Homes - FLASH, Inc., www.flash.org The Department has formed a partnership with the non-profit FLASH to provide an on-going public outreach campaign. The FLASH mission is to help Floridians reduce the number of deaths, injuries, suffering, property damage and economic losses caused by hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes or wildfires. FLASH encourages Floridians to build, buy and use buildings that are safer from disaster; know the risks that natural hazards present and to understand ways of reducing these risks. The FLASH web site provides information on various programs and resources available to help communities become more disaster resistant, which includes the Blueprint for Safety project. The "Interactive Tools" component of Blueprint for Safety provides handy tools that offer life-saving information regarding wildfire risk and windstorm protective devices. A 24/7 toll-free consumer hotline (1-877-221-SAFE) has been established for public use, both in English and Spanish.
R E S I D E N T I A L C O N S T R U C T I O N M I T I G A T I O N
P R O G R A M
FYI:
Visit the RCMP web site at
www.floridadisaster.org/mitigation/rcmp/ for a copy of:
annual budget
annual RCMP report to Florida Legislature
history of previously funded projects
highlights and major accomplishments of RCMP
links to the Disaster Contractors Network and Florida Alliance for Safe Homes and other strategic partners and programs
CONTACT:
Iris Stanley, Planning Manager
Division of Emergency Management/Residential Construction
Mitigation Program
2555 Shumard Oak Blvd.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2100
Phone: (850) 922-4454
Fax: (850) 413-9841
email: iris.stanley@em.myflorida.com
Updated:
May 19, 2008 15:46
