The program as it actually stands

The pilot was created by Ch. 2024-108 and codified at s. 215.55871, Fla. Stat. Its terms, unchanged by the failed bills:

• Match. “All grants must be matched on the basis of $1 provided by the association for $2 provided by the state,” and “the total grant award may not exceed $175,000 per association.”
• Geography. Eligibility is limited to buildings within a service area of 15 miles inward of a coastline. Inland associations remain ineligible — that is exactly what HB 1497 would have changed.
• Buildings. Three or more stories, each building containing at least two dwellings. The definition of “condominium” excludes detached units on individual parcels of land.
• Owner approval. A board majority (or a majority of total voting interests) to apply for an inspection; and for a grant improving units, “approval by at least 75 percent of all unit owners who reside within the structure or building.” That threshold was unanimity until HB 393 (Ch. 2025-173) reduced it in June 2025.
• A one-year clock. An association must submit for final inspection or request an extension within one year of grant approval, “otherwise the application is deemed abandoned and the grant money reverts back to DFS.”

The compliance gate that locks non-compliant associations out entirely

This is the provision boards most often miss, and it is the sharpest interaction in Florida condominium law right now. Section 215.55871(2)(b), as amended by HB 393 in 2025, provides that “an association may not apply for an inspection… or a grant… unless the association has complied with the inspection requirements in ss. 553.899 and 718.112(2)(g) and (h)” — that is, its milestone inspection and its structural integrity reserve study.

An association that has let its SIRS slide is therefore not merely exposed on the reserve side. It is disqualified from the state's hurricane-hardening money. Window grants carry a further condition: the windows must be established as common elements in the declaration.

A related claim circulating in vendor and management material should be discounted. Several sources state that HB 913 barred Citizens Property Insurance from issuing or renewing policies unless an association complies with s. 553.899 and s. 718.112(2)(g). We checked the 191-page enrolled text of HB 913: it contains zero occurrences of “Citizens” and zero of “627.351,” and s. 627.351(6) carries no such condition. There is no statutory Citizens eligibility bar. What is real is Citizens' own underwriting rule — see below — which is a different mechanism with different consequences.

The numbers: why the expansion mattered

Department of Financial Services program data, as reproduced in the House staff analysis of CS/HB 1497 dated 30 January 2026, shows a program that has twice run out of money faster than associations could apply.

The original appropriation was $30 million from General Revenue — $27,636,000 for grants, $600,000 for inspections, $1,764,000 for operations and administration. The first funding round “opened on November 14, 2024, and closed on November 19, 2024, closing within five days of being opened due to funding capacity”; 174 completed applications arrived in the first three days and 165 were approved. A second round opened on 18 August 2025 with roughly 1,600 notification emails and “resulted in 56 additional applications, representing 106 buildings with 4,535 residential units, which triggered portal closure within one hour due to funding capacity.”

The conversion rate is the part to sit with: “As of January 2026, approximately 700 initial inspections have been completed across 206 associations, and 42 condominium associations have been fully approved for grants.”⁴

What an association can do now

The online portal is closed. DFS directs applications to [email protected] or (850) 413-2971. The program forms are DFS-O1-009 (Condominium Association Guide), DFS-O1-010 (Inspection Application), DFS-O1-011 (Intended Contractors List and Commitment to Complete) and DFS-O1-012 (Disclosure Notice). An application marked “Needs More Information” is closed as withdrawn after 60 days.⁵

Two practical points. First, get the milestone and SIRS compliance in order before anything else — without it the application cannot be made at all. Second, be clear about what this money does: the program funds hurricane hardening, not structural repair arising from a milestone finding. Coverage frequently blurs the two, and an association budgeting milestone repairs against a hoped-for grant is budgeting against the wrong program.

What to watch next

Neither bill has been refiled and nothing in this area is on file for 2027. The pressure point in the meantime is insurance rather than legislation: OIR approved a 14.1 percent increase for Citizens commercial residential wind-only condominium business and 7.7 percent for condominium association multiperil, effective for policies on or after 1 July 2026, against a rate collar of minus 5 to plus 15 percent.⁶