Roof resilience: new grants for homeowners
By Amy Paradysz and Julia Bassett Schwerin
After back-to-back devastating storms in Maine two winters ago, Governor Janet Mills established the Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission in May 2024 to look at ways to be better prepared for worsening storms—to play offense rather than defense.
Commission member Bob Carey, Maine Superintendent of Insurance, looked to the examples of states that had faced hurricanes Ivan and Katrina in the mid-2000s and resolved to build back better. Today, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have state grant programs that help homeowners retrofit roofs to the FORTIFIED™ standard, a construction method developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. (IBHS) to improve hurricane and wind resistance by tying down roof sheathing, sealing gaps and tying down the roof frame to the building and foundation.
The potential for this program to be part of Maine’s resilience strategy in the face of high winds and heavy snows was clear. The state created a $15 million Home Resiliency Program Fund with surpluses from fees that insurance brokers across the nation pay annually to sell insurance in Maine. And, beginning this spring, the state of Maine is offering grants to help homeowners strengthen their roofs in advance of the storms we know are coming sooner or later.
The new Fortify Maine program starts with a pilot open to homeowners in York, Cumberland, Kennebec and Penobscot counties in April and with a statewide expected rollout this summer. The Fortify Maine program provides grants to eligible homeowners to replace their roof with a fortified roof by a certified contractor and getting it inspected and certified by a third-party inspector. Qualified applicants will be Maine residents seeking a grant for their primary residence. In addition, an independent evaluator will confirm the home is structurally suitable for a fortified roof.
To take a hypothetical example, say a new roof costs $15,000, and the extra parts, labor and inspections $3,000, making a total of $18,000. The grant would be for $10,000 paid directly to the contractor, with the homeowner paying the remaining $8,000. For low-income households—with at least one person enrolled in MaineCare or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—the grant would be for $15,000 and the homeowner would pay the contractor the remaining $3,000.
In addition:
The roofing contractors are trained and vetted by the Fortify Maine Program.
Third-party inspectors are also trained to inspect the work to ensure compliance and give the homeowner a certificate that stays with the home on resale.
The Fortify certificate may earn grant recipients a discount on their homeowner’s insurance.
“The larger insurance companies that have worked with IBHS have seen the benefit of FORTIFIED Roof™ standards in reduced insurance losses,” said Charles Mercer of the Fortify Maine Homes program. “Because of that understanding, many of the large national insurers offer homeowner insurance discounts for between 15% and 25%. We are working with local insurance companies in Maine to make sure they know the benefits of this program—and encourage them to be competitive in their pricing of insurance products for Maine homeowners. That is a work in progress.”
The Fortify Maine Homes initiative will benefit as many as 1,000 to 1,100 households that could otherwise face repeated costs to replace their roofs after severe storms. And, if flooding is also a concern in your area, look for the Maine Bureau of Insurance to roll out basement waterproofing grants in 2027.
This article appeared in the Spring 2026 edition of Green & Healthy Maine HOMES. Subscribe today!
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