Condo conundrum: 165 properties OK'd for grant program face tougher new hurdles
A Pembroke Pines condominium's governing board thought it moved quickly to get in line for a roof replacement grant when the My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program opened to applications last November.
Now, the association is being told that it's ineligible for a grant under terms of a new bill just passed by the Florida Legislature that, among other revisions, now limits eligibility to condominiums over two stories.
Pierpointe V Condo III is a small complex of 24 units in three two-story buildings. It's one of 165 condominium properties in Florida told they were approved for windstorm mitigation inspections and, depending on what the inspections identified, generous grants for storm-hardening improvements.
But now those approvals are uncertain. A new law that awaits the governor's signature includes several tougher qualifying provisions that could put Pierpointe V and a number of others out of the running.
'It's really unfortunate, and it's a little bit disappointing,' said Dawn Munera, Pierpointe V's treasurer, who submitted the condo's application. The property still awaits its initial inspection nearly six months after it was approved in December, she said. 'I was also surprised that none of the condo condominiums that applied for this have been been approved for grants yet.'
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The My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program, patterned after the popular My Safe Florida Home program, was originally enacted in 2024. The program aimed to provide $2 in state funds, up to $175,000, for every $1 spent by condo associations to fund mitigation projects.
Eligible projects include replacement of windows, skylights and other openings with impact-resistant glass; purchase and installation of code-compliant exterior doors; and improvements to roofs that would require full roof replacements.
Officials shut down the application portal on Nov. 19, six days after receiving 174 applications. Those applications were enough to deplete the initial $30 million budget if all sought the maximum grant amount, according to a Jan. 1 report sent to legislators by the Department of Financial Services, which oversees the program. Of the 174 applications, 165 were approved, the report said.
The Department of Financial Services confirmed on Thursday that the 165 approved properties will be subjected to new requirements in the amended law if they hope to qualify for a grant.
'Once the grant window is opened, all applications are subject to the provisions of law at the time of approval,' department spokesman Devin Galetta said.
Of the 165 applicants, 52 have buildings under three stories, Galetta said. And inspections of 378 buildings at 91 condo associations have been completed, he said.
If enacted, the new law would add these requirements:
— Condos must be at least three habitable stories.
— Window upgrades will be eligible for grant funding only if they are established as common elements in a condo declaration, and not owned individually by unit owners.
— Improvements will only be eligible for grants if they result in an insurance discount.
— Mitigation improvements must be made to all openings, including exterior doors, garage doors, windows and skylights, if doing so is necessary for the building to qualify for an insurance discount.
— All condos approved for grants must have completed their milestone inspections and Structural Integrity Reserve Studies.
Munera said her condo completed its milestone inspection and reserve study because Pembroke Pines requires them even for condominiums under three stories.
The condo had recently spent $142,000 to replace two of its three roofs before owners heard about the My Safe Florida Condominium program. It canceled plans to replace the third roof, believing it could recover $47,000 in grants before the June 1 start of the upcoming hurricane season. Each unit owner would have saved about $2,000, Munera said.
In December, the condo board learned it was approved to participate in the program, Munera said. Eligibility for a grant hinged on what the inspection found and were subject to rules in place at the time, she said.
But although she reached out in December to the vendor hired to conduct the inspections, several months went by and no inspector showed up, Munera said.
After Munera sent several emails, the employee told her by telephone on Tuesday that the complex would no longer be eligible for a grant under terms of the new law, which the employee said would be signed shortly by the governor, Munera said.
Munera said she then reached out to the office of Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami Republican who co-sponsored the original and amended bills, and received an email from one of Lopez's aides telling her that her condo no longer qualified.
Galetta and Lopez pointed out that one of the revisions approved in the new bill will make it easier for qualified properties to secure a grant.
One of the revisions, intended to allow condo boards to bypass individual holdouts, reduces the percentage of unit owners required to approve grant applications from 100% to 75%.
The 100% threshold 'was determined to be a significant hurdle,' Galetta said.
Munera said she had approval from all 24 of her condo's unit owners to apply for its grant.
In addition, Galetta said, the new bill allows larger grant amounts per window and per square feet of roof.
Asked if the bill's sponsors made a mistake by not grandfathering in the previously approved applicants under the rules enacted last year, Lopez said she didn't think so.
Requirements added to the revised bill, including changing the approval threshold to 75% of unit owners and ordering that all windows be under common ownership, resulted from 'what we learned during the initial implementation phase,' she said.
'What probably should have happened is that (the department) should have notified all who applied for an inspection that the program would most probably be amended and then they should only have inspected the buildings that were aligned with the provisions of the new bill,' she said. 'This would have avoided any confusion that exists today.'
The confusion is just beginning for Munera and her fellow residents at Pierpointe V Condo III. They have to figure out how to proceed knowing they'll have to come up with the money they had counted on saving.
'I have to bring all these owners back in for another meeting and explain, 'You know what? We haven't fixed this roof for six months because we were waiting for the grant money. Now, it's not gonna come.'
Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.
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