The federal government does not directly provide grants to individuals or homeowners, and Florida departments or agencies do not either.
However, many home improvement and repair assistance programs receive grants to help low-income families, seniors, veterans, and victims of natural disasters fix up their primary residents.
As with most government benefits, there is no single place to turn for help with clear labels. Instead, people must look under many rocks and apply alternative titles to find assistance.
Therefore, we organized the resources by federal programs, state-level support, and project-based benefits to make it easier to navigate all possibilities.
Federal Home Improvement Grants
The federal government provides home improvement and repair grants indirectly to Florida residents. You must apply for benefits with the appropriate agency or department that receives the funding.
Scan this listing of programs targeting help for specific vulnerable populations.
Low-Income Families
The federal government has home improvement grant programs that earmark help for low-income households. Florida families that meet the criteria can take advantage.
WAP
The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) is the primary federal initiative helping Florida residents improve their homes’ energy efficiency. If a project reduces electricity or gas consumption, WAP might support various upgrades free of charge to low-income homeowners.
Apply for WAP by contacting your local office. If your household meets the income eligibility criteria, they will arrange an energy audit of your home. The analysis will generate recommendations based on a Savings to Investment Ratio (SIR), often prioritized in this order.
- Addition of insulation and weather stripping
- Upgrade inefficient heating and cooling units
- Installation of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
- Free appliances (refrigerators before washers & dryers)
- Window and door replacement
- Leaky roof repair and replacement
LIHEAP
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a secondary federal initiative that helps Florida residents improve their homes’ energy efficiency. LIHEAP allocates most of its grant money to lower utility bills (gas and electric), while a small percentage goes towards repairs that lower energy usage.
Apply for LIHEAP by contacting a Florida agency nearest your home.
Inflation Reduction Act
Low-income Florida residents will have to wait for home improvement grants promised by the Inflation Reduction Act – a federal law signed by President Biden. Governor DeSantis vetoed the state budget, including administrative expenses to administer the program’s two components.
Home Energy Rebates
Home Energy Rebates will be unavailable to Florida residents until further notice. The program covers up to 50% of costs for projects modeled to reduce energy usage significantly.
Low-income households (less than 80% of median area income) can boost these savings up to 80% of project costs.
Home Appliance Rebates
Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates will be unavailable to Florida residents until further notice. The program provides up to $14,000 in discounts for specific purchases.
- Low-income: 100% of costs
- Mid-income: 50% of costs
The rebates are available for the purchase and installation of these systems.
- Heat pump HVAC systems ($8,000)
- Electric stoves and cooktops ($840)
- Heat pump water heater ($1,750)
- Upgraded circuit panels ($4,000)
- Insulation, air sealing, and ventilation ($1,600)
- Electric wiring improvements ($2,500)
Tax Credits
Florida residents can take advantage of three IRS tax credits that make home improvement more affordable. In these cases, high-income earners benefit most.
- Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit: up to $1,200 annually towards the costs of installing energy-efficient insulation, windows, doors, roofing, and similar improvements in your home
- Residential Clean Energy Credit: 30% of the cost to install qualifying systems that use solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, or fuel cell power to produce electricity
- Alternative Fuel Refueling Property Credit: Up to $1,000 for equipment used to recharge an electric vehicle
Senior Citizens
USDA Section 504 provides $10,000 home improvement grants to qualifying Florida seniors living in rural areas to remediate health and safety hazards.
The Section 504 program provides grants to low-income seniors over 62 who own and occupy their house and cannot afford to repay an improvement loan because their total debt ratio exceeds 40%.
Military Veterans
The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers several home improvement grants to Florida personnel with service-connected disabilities. The funding helps them make needed changes to their living environment, such as ramps, walkways, handrails, grab bars, sliding doors, and other modifications.
Apply for service disability grants through the VA to determine eligibility.
- Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant helps recipients live independently in a barrier-free environment.
- Special Housing Adaptation (SHA) grant helps recipients with specific service-connected disabilities adapt or purchase a residence to accommodate the impairment.
- The Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) grant helps recipients modify a house owned by a family member.
- Home Improvement and Structural Alterations (HISA) grant provides medically necessary improvements and structural alterations to primary residences.
Hurricane Victims
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides financial assistance to property owners to repair disaster-caused damage to their primary residence that is not covered by insurance.
FEMA is a critical resource for Florida residents impacted by Hurricanes.
Apply for FEMA disaster assistance online after filing claims with your insurance companies (if applicable).
- Homeowners insurance claims for wind damage
- Flood insurance claims for water destruction
FEMA can help with various mitigation efforts to make your home safe, sanitary, and comfortable. This assistance may fund roof, furnace, water heater, or central electrical panel repairs.
- Register online or call 844-833-1010
- Complete the application if eligible
- Schedule a home damage assessment
- Sign the grant agreement if selected
- Repair, rebuild, or replace through contractors
Florida Home Repair Projects
Florida residents might find it easier to locate home improvement and repair grants when searching by the specific project because so many projects overlap or have different points of emphasis.
Roof Repair
Roof repair assistance programs in Florida draw from federal and state-level initiatives. Your ability to qualify depends on the criteria established by the governing agency.
Free programs helping with roof repair have many possible eligibility avenues. However, given the significant expenses ($10,000 or more) associated with installing new shingles, trusses, and awnings, it could prove challenging.
Therefore, apply for the free roof replacement programs that closely match your situation.
- FEMA: After a natural disaster (Hurricane Ian)
- WAP: Improves energy efficiency for low-income families
- Section 504: Low-income seniors addressing safety hazards
- My Safe Home: Includes code-compliant shingles
- PACE: Everyone else needing financing (not free)
Window Replacement
The Florida window replacement program combines federal and state-level initiatives and works similarly. The cost of installing new glass panes for an entire single-family house could overshadow government allocations.
Energy-efficient window replacement programs have limited budgets because other home improvements show better Savings to Investment Ratios (SIR) on energy conservation and different objectives.
- FEMA & Rebuild Florida: Replace windows shattered by high winds
- WAP: When the most energy-efficient upgrade
- My Safe Home: Supports impact-resistant windows
- PACE: Everyone else needing financing (not free)
State Home Repair Assistance
The state government in Florida also administers several home improvement grants. The funding may come from federal agencies and flow through to county-run departments.
My Safe Home
Governor Desantis recently re-enacted the My Safe Florida Home program, which provides grants of up to $10,000. Residents can use the resources to improve the hurricane resistance of single-family residences.
Apply for My Safe FL Home grants once the Department of Financial Services has the process running. Approved applicants will receive $2 for every $1 invested up to $10,000 towards projects recommended by a hurricane mitigation inspection.
- Opening protection
- Exterior doors, including garage doors
- Brace gable ends
- Reinforcing roof-to-wall connections
- Improving the strength of roof-deck attachments
- Upgrading roof covering from code to code-plus
- Secondary water barrier for roof
Rebuild Florida
The Rebuild Florida housing repair and replacement program is an initiative to help homeowners recover from periodic Hurricanes such as Ian, Irma, Michael, and others past and future.
Community Development Block Grants flow from the federal level to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, which distributes the funding to foster mitigation and rebuilding efforts.
Apply for Rebuild Florida assistance by following these steps.
SHIP
The Florida State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) provides grant funding to local governments to preserve affordable homeownership and multifamily housing. The money targets low and moderate-income families.
Apply for SHIP grants at the appropriate county or city-level agency. Remember that demand often outstrips supply, so be prepared to check in frequently when the local agency temporarily pauses the program.
County Contacts
Apply for SHIP home repair assistance at a county agency. Below is a sampling of the largest county departments that might be processing new applications at this time (or not).
City Contacts
Apply for SHIP home repair assistance at a city agency. Below is a sampling of the largest urban departments that might be processing new applications at this time (or not).
PACE
The Florida Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program helps homeowners obtain fixed-rate financing to cover energy-conserving costs and hurricane-hardening home improvements.
Apply for PACE financing on the government-run website. Remember that you might receive a loan instead of a grant (free money you do not have to repay). However, this option still offers significant advantages.
- Repay the financing through a property tax bill
- The term is the useful life of the improvements
- Any remaining balance transfers to new owners
Eligible improvements include roofs, windows, doors, water heaters, and air conditioners. Any upgrade that conserves water or energy or makes the home more resilient to natural disasters should qualify.
