Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Pushes to Expand ‘Fortify Homes Program’ After Recent Successes | Insurify

Louisiana has some of the highest home insurance rates in the country, but state leaders want to expand a plan to strengthen homes against storm damage to help some lessen the burden.

State Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple wants to provide more funding for Louisiana's popular Fortify Homes Program next year and add coverage for window and door improvements, Fox 8 reported. The program, which picks winners through a lottery, currently awards up to $10,000 to homeowners who repair their roofs to a specific storm-resistant standard called FORTIFIED.

The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) created the FORTIFIED standard to help protect homes from significant storm damage by sealing roofs against rain, installing impact protection for windows and doors, bracing chimneys, and more.

The Louisiana Department of Insurance launched the program in 2023 with $30 million in funding. Initially, the program accepted 3,000 applicants. The legislature funded the program again in 2024, and the Louisiana Department of Insurance recently accepted 1,000 more applicants for another round of grants.

The program received more than 11,700 applications in this latest round of grant funding.

Getting FORTIFIED

The IBHS developed the FORTIFIED program to be "a voluntary construction and re-roofing program designed to strengthen homes … against severe weather such as high winds, hail, hurricanes, and even tornadoes." Contractors can use the set of standards to strengthen new and existing structures by sealing, bracing, and reinforcing vulnerable points.

The IBHS also trains contractors and offers third-party verification that new construction meets FORTIFIED standards.

A few states have programs incentivizing property owners to build to FORTIFIED standards. Louisiana's program mirrors the Strengthen Alabama Homes Program, which has funded over 6,000 FORTIFIED roofs in the last seven years. Alabama's Department of Insurance claims the program inspired others since more than 35,000 homes are now built to the standard statewide.

Saving money as insurance costs soar

Louisiana has the second-highest average home insurance premiums in the country, according to Insurify's home insurance report. Homeowners pay $7,809 per year on average statewide — far above the national average of $2,522, per Insurify data.

Only Florida has a higher state average, at $11,759 annually.

Louisiana also ranks 48th for median household income, according to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

The grant program has the potential to help homeowners by covering or significantly reducing the cost of roof replacement and helping them earn insurance discounts for home, wind, hail, and flood coverage.

Insurance companies already understand the benefit of repairing and upgrading homes — some may require it to renew a policy, and many offer standard discounts for resilience improvements. Louisiana also passed legislation requiring insurers to offer discounts that reflect that lower risk of filing a claim, incentivizing homeowners to make the improvements.

"The new law requiring insurers to provide discounts to homeowners who have FORTIFIED roofs is so far resulting in an average discount of about 20% off the total premium, as well as about a 24% discount for Citizens policyholders in coastal Louisiana," James Donelon, former insurance commissioner, said in a January news release. "I firmly believe that if we build high enough and strong enough, we can live and work with 150 mph hurricanes making landfall on our coast from Grand Isle to Holly Beach."

Maintaining funding and increasing standards

Next year, Temple plans to ask the Louisiana Legislature for a permanent funding source to continue the grant program. He also wants to expand the program to cover fortified windows and doors.

"Last year, the state of Louisiana did a good job of kicking the program off with the fortified roof program, the bronze program," he told Fox 8. "But in order for citizens to get the biggest discounts out there, they need to have the fortified silver and gold."

Silver and gold are IBHS standards that go above and beyond the FORTIFIED roof program. The silver standard includes protections for windows and garage doors as well as chimney bracing and more. The gold standard includes those improvements plus even higher standards for windows and doors, roof-to-wall connections, and more.

What's next: How homeowners can apply

Homeowners interested in the program can sign up for alerts about future funding rounds on the Louisiana Department of Insurance website. To apply, residents have to create a profile in the Louisiana Fortity Homes Program system and complete the required forms. After that, homeowners should wait to hear from the program before contacting an evaluator or contractor. Starting any project without program notice will bar the project from being eligible for the grant.

Applicants must have proof of an active home insurance policy with wind coverage, and flood coverage if they live in certain flood zones, to be eligible for the grant. Bid recipients will see the program pay the contractor directly for covered home improvements.

Homeowners are responsible for any costs the grant doesn't cover.

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