TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With condo costs still a major issue across Florida, state lawmakers are advancing a proposal aimed at helping lower-income owners strengthen their buildings and potentially lower insurance bills.
The Florida Senate unanimously approved a measure that would expand the state’s My Safe Florida Condo program while focusing assistance on older buildings and lower-income communities.
WATCH: Florida Senate backs plan to help lower-income condo owners with insurance costs
The proposal would extend the program beyond its current coastal limits (15 miles) and target condominiums built before 2008. It would also focus on associations where at least 80% of residents earn at or below 80% of the area’s median income.
Lawmakers say the goal is to ensure limited state funds reach owners who are most at risk of being priced out by rising insurance costs and steep building assessments.
The legislation would also allow grant funding to pay for devices that stop wind-driven rain from entering through sliding glass doors — a common source of storm damage in condominium buildings.
“You’re not worried about floods. You’re not worried about the roof leaking. What you’re worried about is wind-driven rain events that cause damage and go through your sliding doors,” said Sen. Jason Pizzo (NPA) of Hollywood, the bill’s sponsor.
The push to help condo owners comes in the years following the collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, which led to sweeping safety regulations for aging condominiums across Florida. Those reforms increased inspection and reserve requirements for many buildings — but also drove up costs for condo owners, particularly seniors on fixed incomes.
Pizzo said the proposal was inspired by the financial strain many condo owners are facing as they deal with large special assessments and higher insurance premiums.
“I will never forget Senator Bradley and I walking out of a condominium with an 87-year-old woman putting her arm around Senator Bradley and saying, ‘I just got $107,000 assessment and I’m on a fixed income. Where am I going to go?’” Pizzo said.
The next step for the legislation is the Florida House, where a similar proposal is moving as part of a broader bill sponsored by Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point.
Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a Democrat from Coconut Creek, helped craft the House legislation’s language focused on the condo program.
“We just want to make sure that the limited funds that are there are going to those who need it most,” Hunschofsky said.
Still, she acknowledged the measure would only address part of a much larger affordability crisis facing condo owners statewide.
“This is serious stuff. And so while this is a drop in the bucket for those in condos, there’s so much more we should be doing.”
With the Senate approval now secured, lawmakers will spend the final days of the legislative session trying to reconcile the Senate and House proposals. If the measure passes both chambers before session ends next week, it would head to the governor’s desk for consideration.
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