Louisiana might reserve some roof fortification grants for low and moderate income households • Louisiana Illuminator

Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple says he might focus one of the state’s next rounds of roof fortification grants exclusively on low- and moderate-income households. 

The program has had no income limits for grant recipients in its five previous rounds of funding, which started when the grants were launched in 2023.Temple is considering a pilot program with nonprofit groups to target homeowners of more modest means, he said in an interview last week. 

Under the proposed plan, nonprofits would work with the insurance department to identify lower-income homeowners who meet qualifications for roof assistance. The nonprofits would provide supplemental funding to households who might not be able to cover the cost of a roof upgrade that goes beyond the state grant, Temple said. 

It’s not clear what income cut off would be used for such a program yet. 

Louisiana has set aside $45 million in public funding over the past two state budget cycles for grants to harden residential roofs to standards the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety sets.

Officials hope incentivizing the installation of more resilient roofs will lead to lower property insurance premiums, not only for individual homeowners receiving the grant but also their wider communities. 

Hardened roofs are less prone to harm from hurricanes and other natural disasters, and a roof that stays intact through a storm often leads to less damage in the rest of a house, according to experts. 

The state’s roof grants go up to $10,000 per homeowner but typically don’t cover the full cost of a roof upgrade. This could be why a Times-Picayune analysis last year found that most people selected to participate in early rounds of the program lived in communities where income levels were higher than the statewide average.

 

Grant recipients are required to cover any costs that exceed the $10,000 grant, pay for their own roof evaluation fee, which usually ranges between $500 and $750, and remit any construction permit fees required locally, according to recent legislative documents. 

These additional costs make it more difficult for people with fewer financial resources to afford to be part of the program.

So far, only 78 roof upgrades supported with the grant funding have come in under that $10,000 threshold, insurance agency spokesman John Ford said in an email. In total, the agency paid contractors for a little over 1,400 roof projects that cost the state $10.3 million to complete in 2023, according to legislative documents.

The idea to partner with nonprofit organizations to help cover the extra costs for low-and-moderate income homeowners came from Alabama, Temple said. 

He had already made significant changes to the roof fortification program before it opened up for its fifth round of grant applications in September.

In 2023, when former Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon ran the program, the previous four rounds were offered on a first-come, first-served basis and available throughout the state. Temple distributed the fifth round of grants through a lottery system to people who signed up between Sept. 18 to Sept. 24.

Temple also limited the grants exclusively to homeowners in parishes most affected by hurricanes: Ascension, Assumption, Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Vermilion.

Even with these restrictions, demand for roof fortifications far exceeds the program’s capacity. Temple said he awarded 1,000 grants during the September round of funding, but some 12,000 people applied for assistance during the period. 

State Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, expects the Louisiana Legislature to take up bills on the roof fortification program during a special session that starts Wednesday.

Talbot wants to use reserve funding from Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the property insurer of last resort in the state, for the roof fortification grants specifically for Citizens members, he said in an interview. 

Next year, Temple said he is going to pitch to lawmakers the creation of a permanent funding stream for roof fortification grants. He wants to take a portion of the fees for state insurance broker licenses and a portion of an insurance premium tax to pay for the grants. The commissioner could run into opposition, however, if that money is already being used to fund other state government needs.