Home Hurricane Rating Coalition

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As an extension of last year’s Florida Hurricane Crisis Coalition (FHCC), Leslie Chapman-Henderson, President & CEO of FLASH (Federal Alliance for Safe Homes) and Cecil Pearce, the Vice President of the Southeast Region for the American Insurance Association (AIA), announced the formation of the Hurricane Home Rating Coalition (HHRC) as co-chairs, with Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) hosting the coalition meetings at its headquarters in Tallahassee.  AIF chief executive Barney Bishop announced that Gerald Wester, AIF’s longtime insurance lobbyist would serve as the consultant to the coalition and help guide its recommendations.

The initial meeting of the coalition was on Thursday, May 29th and 36 business and governmental representatives came together to begin the discussion on how to voluntarily implement the Hurricane Structure Rating System (HSRS) which has been developed in coordination with the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS).  Tami Torres, Special Program Administrator for DFS, who oversees the My Safe Florida Home program, was there to acquaint everyone with this groundbreaking program.

The purpose of the HHRC is to help Florida homeowners:

1. Protect their loved ones,
2. Protect their property and possessions, and
3. Increase their ability to safely shelter in place. 

Although in many cases consumers will be motivated by greater protection and potential insurance savings on their wind insurance, it is also hoped that many consumers will undertake hardening (or “mitigation”) of their homes to realize a return on their investment through reduced property losses from future storms and possibly a higher resale value of their homes. 

The business community hopes to “voluntarily” institute this program without any government mandates.  But, government is already doing their part by passing legislation that calls for any mitigation improvements to not be a part of the assessed value of one’s home by the county Property Appraiser.  So, by hardening one’s home you will not be taxed on the enhanced value of your home.  The coalition will be working on other proposals to encourage consumers to harden their homes. 

One of the ideas discussed by the HHRC was the public value of the Home Structure Rating Scale (HSRS), a scale based on a 1 – 100 rating that evaluates a home’s ability to withstand hurricane-force winds based on its structure and location.  The HSRS is a component of the wind inspections conducted through the My Safe Florida Home program.

Representatives from various stakeholders including bankers, mortgage bankers, realtors, home builders, insurance agents, financial advisors, reinsurance companies, hurricane modelers, home and wind inspectors, insurance companies, contractors, roofer and sheet metal workers, among many others attended the first meeting and will continue to meet periodically over the coming months to try and fashion a process that will help Florida homeowners to understand how and why they should harden their homes to prevent future property and casualty losses from hurricanes. 

Available on this site is the first meeting’s agenda along with all of the documents that were distributed at the first meeting.  Keep checking here for future meeting notices and any documents that will be made available to attendees.

If you are interested in attending future coalition meetings, please add your name to the “Interested Parties” list on this site by completign the attached form and we will send you notice of future meetings.  You may attend in person or participate via a toll-free number.

Add Your Name to the HHRC Interested Parties List...