Florida officials outline $400 million Elevate Florida rollout and broader federal mitigation funding

Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie told the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee that Elevate Florida — a new state program to elevate and reconstruct homes after recent hurricanes — will open for homeowner applications this Friday with $400 million available for projects tied to National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies.

Guthrie said the state also has access to substantially larger federal mitigation funds through programs such as Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA). “We have access to a lot of federal funding,” he said, adding that Florida is an “enhanced mitigation state” that receives 20% of certain disaster obligations from FEMA for mitigation uses.

The program matters because it aims to combine insurance payouts and mitigation grants to make homeowners financially whole and reduce future flood insurance exposure. Guthrie said the Elevate Florida plan will prioritize NFIP properties — first targeting severe repetitive loss properties with 100% cost share, then properties with multiple losses at a 90/10 split and other eligible properties at a 75/25 split. He described a state role in contracting with licensed general contractors to manage reconstruction and elevation projects so vendors deal with the state rather than many individual homeowners.

Why it matters: Guthrie and other presenters framed Elevate Florida as a short-term, targeted use of federal pass-through funds to reduce future flood risk, lower future premiums and keep properties on local tax rolls rather than acquiring them. Guthrie said counties are likely to ask the state to run some of their Hazard Mitigation allocations under three‑party agreements, potentially increasing the program’s reach.

Key details and clarifications - Program roll-out: Guthrie said the Elevate Florida application will go live Friday and that the state has set aside $400,000,000 specifically to run a homeowners-facing application. "Starting this Friday, people across the state of Florida will be able to apply for it," he said. - Cost shares: For NFIP properties the state plans to use tiers tied to repetitive-loss status: 100% for severe repetitive loss (four or more insured losses), 90/10 for two-to-three losses and 75/25 for one loss or other eligible cases. For 90/10 and 75/25 cases Guthrie said homeowners would be expected to provide their share (for example, $25,000 on a $100,000 project at a 75/25 split) and that the state would escrow that homeowner portion. - Ceiling: Guthrie said there is currently no per-home cap on the Elevate Florida funds the state will provide, and that the state’s approach is to combine FEMA obligations, NFIP payouts and Elevate funding to make homeowners whole. - Relationship to other funds: Guthrie described roughly $4.8 billion available to Florida across federal mitigation streams (he corrected an earlier figure during questions), separate from Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds and other agency accounts.

Discussion and next steps Committee members asked how homeowners will be notified and assisted in applying; Guthrie said the state will use a call center, community outreach teams and vendor partners to provide in‑person and phone-based assistance as needed. Guthrie emphasized the program’s initial focus on NFIP policyholders because of ties to federal funding rules.

Ending Guthrie said the state expects counties to ask the Division of Emergency Management to run similar allocations for their HMGP awards and that Elevate Florida aims both to reduce homeowners’ dependence on residual carriers and to raise property values and local tax revenue by elevating or reconstructing homes out of frequent-flood areas.