Hurricane Loss Mitigation ProgramExecutive Summary
Nature's twin gangsters, storms and hurricanes, bestow a sometimes unrelenting barrage of disasters on this state's population and its property. In times past, no sooner had we cleaned up from one disaster, another one was upon us. A deadly wake up call came in August 1992 with the assault of Hurricane Andrew, cutting a swath through South Florida, killing 43 people and leaving $16 billion in insured losses. An estimated $9 billion in uninsured losses was also incurred. With Florida's economy teetering and the insurance industry near total collapse, it was crucial to develop a strategy that went beyond simply rebuilding in the same place in the same way each time disaster knocked.
To that end, the Florida Legislature created a series of tools to stabilize the economy and insurance industry, and bring the state into the next generation of disaster relief - Mitigation. Those tools consisted of the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association and the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association - state insurance plans for residents who could no longer obtain a conventional policy, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, section 215.555, F.S., established to shore up insurance losses after a storm, and the "Bill Williams Residential Safety and Preparedness Act," which created the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program, section 215.559, F.S.. For the purposes of this report, deference is given to the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program. This report satisfies subsection 215.559 (7), F.S., to provide a "full report and accounting of activities under this section and an evaluation of such activities..." of the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program.
The Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program, created in 1999, began a more focused effort in mitigating disasters. The Department, based on recommendations of the advisory council (ss. 215.599 (5), F.S.), has embarked on a number of efforts to complete tangible mitigation efforts and to educate Floridians on steps they can take to reduce the effects of disaster on their individual properties. These activities are divided into three parts based on the division of the allocations outlined in the statute. They are: mobile homes, the State University System, and Department of Community Affairs (Department) programs.
Mobile Homes -- In an effort to mitigate future losses in Florida's mobile home parks, $2.8 million of Hurricane Catastrophe Funds were allocated to support an education and inspection pilot program. Funds have been used to support tie-down projects in at least one mobile home park in each of nine communities. They are: the Consolidated City of Jacksonville, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Okaloosa, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Volusia Counties. These projects will further the goal of providing means to reduce losses among mobile homes.
State University System -- Florida's only Type I Center within the State University System dedicated to hurricane research - Florida International University -- received $700,000 to support five research initiatives associated with a range of mitigation issues. The five projects, outlined briefly below, include:
1) Sheltering for Mobile Homes Parks - Research to analyzes and identify appropriate structures within mobile home parks to provide sheltering in place options.
2) Mobile Home Recycling Program - Research to investigate the creation of a secondary market to provide for the disposal and removal of existing mobile home units as Florida has one of the largest and oldest mobile home stocks in the nation.
3) Land Development and Zoning Issues - Research on land use, zoning, and the combination of economic and regulatory factors that present barriers to homeowners taking mitigation measures.
4) Homeowners Insurance and Issues of Incentives or Barriers to Mitigation - Research examining the role homeowners, government and insurers play in contributing to hurricane loss reduction and an analysis of the spread of benefits between these three entities.
5) Issues of Structural Performance and Retrofitting for Loss Reduction - Research to assess the effectiveness of various mitigation measures that could be incorporated into the retrofitting of existing housing units.
Department Programs -- With the advice of the advisory council to help prevent or reduce losses, or to reduce the cost of rebuilding after a disaster, the Department crafted a plan to allocate the remaining $3.5 million in resources. The Department has embarked on a range of projects following up on a number of the successes that emerged in the previous fiscal years from the use of Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund resources. A complete description of the projects funded by the Department under the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program, including a full accounting of contract amounts, is included in the table provided in Appendix B.
The array of projects being implemented by the Department in State Fiscal Year 2000-2001 promote the interests of the insurance industry, the building community, and the mobile home industry. The Department Projects support a range of applied research outside of the scope of that legislatively mandated to support the Florida International University, continuing such successful initiatives as the Florida Coastal Monitoring Project and the Homeowners Incentives Team. Finally, they emphasize the continued need for public outreach and education through the support of mitigation related conferences and the critical mission of the Florida Alliance for Safe Homes in educating all Floridians on the need to take personal responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of their homes.
In addition to these projects, the Department is implementing an aggressive statewide public shelter retrofitting program to shelter residents and mitigate the effects of disaster to shelter buildings. This program, as part of the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program, relies, in part, on $3 million of ongoing funding from the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.
In looking to the future, it is imperative that projects funded under the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program relate to the kinds of initiatives outlined in the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Recovery Act. Recent amendments to the Stafford Act reward states for pre-disaster mitigation initiatives. One way to ensure this occurs is to link future projects to the goals outlined in the State Mitigation Strategy (also known as the Section 322 State Mitigation Plan). Linking Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program projects to these goals serves two major purposes. First, it allows the state to be rewarded under the Stafford Act and gain both access to pre-disaster mitigation funds as well as supplemental post-disaster mitigation resources. Second, appropriately linked projects may be credited as requisite non-federal match for future disaster grants, ensuring full leveraging of the $7 million allocation.
Future options also include the possible privatization of the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program. Under this system, a single non-Department contractor would manage the program. The purpose of this interdisciplinary, public policy center will be to evaluate the natural disaster risks facing this state (hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tornados, etc.,) and emerging technologies and public policies to reduce the number of persons and value of properties at risk through individual or government actions (home repairs, new building standards, insurance pricing, land use controls, etc.). The Department's Fiscal Year 2001-2002 budget request includes a Legislative Budget Issue to study the feasibility of creating this think-tank, research based mitigation center.