Mississippi's $10,000 FORTIFIED roof grant, and where to check if you qualify

Checked against the Mississippi Insurance Department's own pages on August 21, 2026

Eligibility and status change between phases, so treat the department's page as the answer and this one as the directions to it. Everything below says where each fact comes from, and every rule that decides whether you get the money lives on their site, not this one.

What the program is

Strengthen Mississippi Homes is a grant program run by the Mississippi Insurance Department. Their page says it covers up to $10,000 of the cost of upgrading a roof to the FORTIFIED Home™ Roof standard, paid directly to the contractor when the work is finished rather than to you. The program page, the interest form, and every current rule are here:

• Strengthen Mississippi Homes, on mid.ms.gov, the page that decides everything on this one.
• Questions go to SMH@mid.ms.gov, the address the department publishes for the program.

Who qualifies in the current phase

As of the date at the top of this page, the department's page limits the current phase to:

• Wind pool policyholders. Interest forms are open to MWUA policyholders only, and their page says a grant recipient must have been insured by the wind pool for three consecutive policy years before applying.
• Three counties. Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson, which their page calls the lower three.
• The house you live in. Owner-occupied, single-family, claimed as your primary residence. Their page says townhomes, rental property, condominiums, and mobile homes do not qualify.
• Insurance in force. Proof of current homeowners coverage, and flood insurance if the house sits in a special flood hazard area.
• A house in good repair, evaluated by a certified FORTIFIED evaluator. The evaluation is paid out of pocket: their page says the evaluator's fee is not covered by the grant.

The phrase their page uses is "at this time", and it also says the program will open periodically through the year. If you do not fit today's phase, that is a reason to watch the page, not a final answer.

How to find out if this is you

1. Pull your declarations page. The wind pool is the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association, MWUA. If they carry your wind coverage, their name is on the declarations page of that policy. The association's own site is msplans.com, and it carries its own notice about this program.
2. Read the current phase on the department's program page. The county list and the policyholder requirement above are that page's rules for this phase, and phases change.
3. Submit the interest form from that same page if the current phase fits you. There is no fee to express interest.
4. Email the program at SMH@mid.ms.gov if you are not sure which side of a rule you sit on. They administer it; nobody else's answer is binding.

What a FORTIFIED roof actually is

FORTIFIED is a construction and re-roofing standard from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, the insurance industry's research lab, and the name is their trademark rather than the government's. Their site, fortifiedhome.org, explains the standard in homeowner terms and is where the evaluator requirement above starts to make sense: the designation is inspected onto the house, not claimed by the roofer. The department's page notes a designation lasts five years.

Where the program is headed

The law behind the program, Senate Bill 2409, passed unanimously in spring 2026, and the reporting on it describes a program written for homeowners across the state, with awards drawn by lottery rather than first come, first served. The department is starting with wind pool policyholders on the coast. No official date for a wider phase was published anywhere I could verify, so this page does not print one: the department's page is where a new phase will be announced, and watching it costs nothing.

Worth knowing while you are here

If you hold a wind pool policy, the number worth looking up before any storm is named is your wind deductible. On most coastal policies it is a percentage of the dwelling limit rather than a flat dollar figure, which is how a $400,000 house comes to owe $8,000 before the policy pays anything. That is your policy's own math, on your own declarations page, and knowing the dollar figure changes what a roof grant is worth to you.

What this page is not

This site is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Mississippi Insurance Department, the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association, or IBHS. The program's terms are theirs, they change, and their pages always win over this one. Nothing here is insurance or financial advice: it is a map, drawn on the date stamped at the top.