WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's Chief Financial Officer brought staff members from different departments in his office to the Airport Hilton in West Palm Beach on Tuesday to handle questions and problems, and the biggest issue was homeowners insurance.
"We're trying to make sure we're getting relief to those that are in the tightest position," Jimmy Patronis said referring to the My Safe Florida Home program, which had the busiest table.
"I had a whole bunch of questions, first I want to how the process how to go about it," said Lori Lanni of Royal Palm Beach.
The widely popular My Safe Florida Home program offers homeowners $10,000 grants to make repairs and improvements against storms and can lower insurance costs.
The program, which ran out of money last year, and still has a long list of homeowners waiting on grants will restart July 1 with $200 million.
Online applications can be accessed at https://mysafeflhome.com/.
Patronis said insurer Security First is reporting its policy holders who participated in the program had premium savings of 39.6%.
"That's exactly what the program is designed to do," he said.
Close to 200 people came with questions to the Fixing Problems for Floridians Fair, which also had representatives from Citizens Insurance and the state's Insurance Advocate.
State leaders insist there are positive signs with Florida's insurance with new companies coming in and others planning to hold down rates going into next year. But many people say they're still not seeing any relief.
"They increased the rates so much," said Lamont Crenshaw.
"When you look at residents' bills, you don't see any change and that's the biggest issue that we see," said State Rep. Jervonte Edmonds, D-West Palm Beach.
If you have a question of comment about homeowners insurance, email me at matt.sczesny@wpyv.com