Safe Homes Act

2025-2026 Bill 951: Safe Homes Act - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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S. 951
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Davis
Document Path: LC-0649WAB26.docx
Introduced in the Senate on February 24, 2026
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on
Banking and Insurance
Summary: Safe Homes Act
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

2/24/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 5
)

2/24/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Banking and Insurance
(
Senate Journal-page 5
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
02/24/2026

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING
SECTION
38-75-485
, RELATING TO the SOUTH CAROLINA HURRICANE DAMAGE MITIGATION
PROGRAM, SO AS TO PROVIDE THE PROGRAM MUST BE KNOWN AS THE "SC SAFE HOME
PROGRAM," TO ESTABLISH THE PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM, TO REVISE GRANT ELIGIBILITY
AND AWARD AMOUNTS, TO AUTHORIZE ANNUAL BULLETIN-BASED ALLOCATIONS, TO ESTABLISH
NEEDS-BASED PRIORITIZATION OF GRANTS, TO CLARIFY USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF TAX
REVENUES, AND TO MAKE CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL CHANGES.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
38-75-485
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
38-75-485
.
(
A) There is established
within the Department of Insurance, the South Carolina Hurricane Damage
Mitigation Program
to aid eligible homeowners in
retrofitting insurable property to reduce losses due to hurricane, tornado, or
other catastrophic windstorm events. This program shall be known as the "SC
Safe Home Program
.
"
The advisory committee,
established pursuant to Section
38-75-470
, shall provide advice and assistance
to the program administrator with regard to his administration of the program.

(
B)
This section does not create an entitlement for property owners or obligate the
State in any way to fund the inspection or retrofitting of residential property
in this State. Implementation of this program is subject to
the availability of funds through
annual legislative
appropriations
, receipt of federal grants or funds, or
funding from other sources
.

(
C)
The program shall develop and implement a comprehensive and coordinated
approach for hurricane damage mitigation that includes the following:

(
1)
The program may award matching or nonmatching grants based upon the
availability of funds. The program administrator also shall apply for
financial grants to be used to assist single-family, site-built or manufactured
or modular, owner-occupied, residential property owners to retrofit their
primary legal residence to make them less vulnerable to hurricane damage.

(
a)
To be eligible for a matching grant, a residential property must:

(
i) be the applicant's primary legal
residence;

(
ii) be actually owned and occupied
by the applicant;

(
iii) be the owner's legal residence
as described in Section
12-43-220
(c);

(
iv) be a single-family, site-built,
manufactured, or modular, owner-occupied residential property;

(
v) be a residential property covered
by a current homeowners or dwelling insurance policy that:

(
A) is issued by an insurer licensed
in this State or a surplus lines insurer, where the policy is lawfully placed
by a broker authorized to do business in this State; and

(
B) provides insurance coverage of the
residential property equal to or greater than the fair market value of the
residential property as defined in Section
12-37-3135
(a)(2) and reflected in
the county records;

(
vi) have undergone an acceptable
wind certification and hurricane mitigation inspection in accordance with
program requirements.

(
b)
All matching grants must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to the
maximum allowed depending on the type of retrofit. Grants will be awarded
based on the following requirements:

(
i) a Resilient Mitigation Award will
be awarded for roof retrofits meeting SC Safe Homes Retrofit Guidelines and
Insurance
Institute for Business and Home Safety
Fortified Roof Retrofit Guidelines for a residential property and may not
exceed
seven thousand five hundred dollars
the dollar amount outlined in the annual allocation bulletin
published by the Department of Insurance
for nonmatching grant awards or
six thousand dollars for matching grants; and

(
ii) a Sustainable Mitigation Award
will be awarded for
roof retrofits meeting SC Safe Home
Retrofit Guidelines only or for
Window Replacement and Opening
Protection Retrofits meeting SC Safe Home Opening Protection Guidelines for
residential property and
may
shall

not exceed
five thousand dollars for nonmatching grants
awards or four thousand dollars
the dollar amount
outlined in the annual allocation bulletin published by the Department of
Insurance
for matching grants.
For
Hurricane
Shuttering and Protective Barrier Systems
only meeting
must meet
SC Safe Home Opening Protection Guidelines
, grants may not exceed three thousand dollars
and must not exceed the dollar amount outlined in the annual
allocation bulletin published by the Department of Insurance
for both
matching and nonmatching grants.

(
c)
The program must create a process in which mitigation contractors agree to
participate and seek reimbursement from the State and homeowners
.
selected
Homeowners may select the contractor of their choice
from
a list of participating contractors
provided on the SC
Safe Home Program webpage under Participating Contractors and Inspectors
.

All mitigation projects must be based upon the securing of
all required local permits and inspections.
To be
eligible for a mitigation grant, all required local permits and inspections
must be secured and the property must have successfully completed a SC Safe
Home Program inspection.
Mitigation projects are subject to random
reinspection. The program may reinspect up to ten percent of all projects
in any fiscal year
.

(
d)
Matching fund grants also must be made available to local governments and
nonprofit entities, on a first-come, first-served basis, for projects that
reduce hurricane damage to single-family, site-built or manufactured or modular
owner-occupied, residential property, provided that:

(
i) no matching grant for any one
local government or nonprofit entity may exceed
fifty
thousand dollars
the dollar amount outlined in the
annual allocation bulletin published by the Department of Insurance
in
any fiscal year;

(
ii) the total amount of matching
grants awarded to all local governments and nonprofit entities combined may not
exceed
two hundred fifty thousand dollars
the dollar amount outlined in the annual allocation bulletin
published by the Department of Insurance
in any fiscal year;
and

(
iii)
the
difference between two hundred fifty thousand dollars and the total amount of
grants awarded to all local governments and nonprofit entities combined in any
fiscal year may be applied to grants to individual homeowners who meet the
qualifications for a grant described in subitems (a) through (d) or in subitem
(g).
subject to the availability of funds and a
disaster declaration by the Governor, the director may award additional loss
mitigation grants for SC Safe Home Program eligible residential properties
within ninety days following a wind or hail-related catastrophic event that do
not exceed the dollar amount outlined in the annual allocation bulletin
published by the Department of Insurance; and

(
iv) grants awarded by the SC Safe
Home Program must be used for approved mitigation projects to retrofit an
insurable property to resist losses due to hurricane, tornado, or other
catastrophic windstorm events if permitted under the SC Safe Home Program operating
rules and procedures. Any nonprofit must administer the grant in accordance
with SC Safe Home Program standards, operating rules, and procedures. The
nonprofit entity must prepare and maintain documentation required by the SC
Safe Home Program and produce that documentation immediately upon the request
of the director or his designee.

(
e)
Grants may be used for the following improvements:

(
i) roof deck attachment;

(
ii) secondary water barrier;

(
iii) roof covering;

(
iv) brace gable ends;

(
v) reinforce roof-to-wall
connections;

(
vi) opening protection;

(
vii) exterior doors, including
garage doors;

(
viii) tie downs;

(
ix) problems associated with
weakened trusses, studs, and other structural components;

(
x) inspection and repair or
replacement of manufactured home piers, anchors, and tiedown straps; and

(
xi) any other mitigation techniques
approved by the advisory committee.

(
f)
To be eligible for a nonmatching grant, a residential property must comply with
the requirements set forth in subsection (C)(1)(a), (c), and (e).

(
i)
For
nonmatching grants, applicants who otherwise meet the requirements of subitems
(a), (c), and (e) may be eligible for a grant of up to seven thousand five
hundred dollars for a Resilient Mitigation Grant Award and may not be required
to provide a matching amount to receive a Resilient Mitigation Grant Award, up
to five thousand dollars for a Sustainable Mitigation Grant Award or up to
three thousand dollars for a Sustainable Mitigation Hurricane Shutters and
Protective Barrier Systems Award.
These grants must be used to retrofit
single-family, site-built or manufactured or modular, owner-occupied,
residential properties in order to make them less vulnerable to hurricane
damage. The grant must be used for the retrofitting measures set forth in Section
38-75-485
(C)(1)(e).

(
ii) Nonmatching grant award amounts
will be determined based on the cost of the mitigation project and a percentage
of the total adjusted household income of the applicant according to the most
recent federal income tax return. Those applicants with a total annual
adjusted gross household income of which does not exceed eighty percent of the
median annual adjusted gross income for households within the county in which
the person or family resides may be eligible for the maximum grant award
amount. Applicants with a higher total annual adjusted household income may be
awarded a lower amount. The director or his designee shall issue a bulletin
annually that sets forth the maximum grant award amounts based on the total
annual adjusted gross household income of the applicant adjusted for family
size relative to the county area median income or the state median family
income, whichever is higher, as published annually by the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development. If the cost of the mitigation
project exceeds the amount of the grant award, the remaining cost is the
applicant's responsibility.

(
2)
The department shall define by
order or
regulation
the details of the mitigation measures necessary to qualify for the grants
described in this section.

(
3)
Multimedia public education, awareness, and advertising efforts designed to
specifically address mitigation techniques must be employed
, as well as a component to support ongoing consumer resources
and referral services
.
Additionally, the SC Safe
Home Program shall support ongoing consumer education resources and referral
services.

(
4)
The department shall use its best efforts to obtain grants or funds from the
federal government to supplement the financial resources of the program. In
addition to state appropriations, if any, this program must be implemented by
the department through the use of the premium taxes due to this State by the
South Carolina Wind and Hail Underwriting Association, and
one
five
percent of the
premium taxes collected annually and remitted to the Department of Insurance.

(
5) Mitigation grants for insurable
residential properties are subject to the availability of funds and must meet
the eligibility criteria established by the SC Safe Home Program. Grant funding
shall be allocated as follows:

(
a) mitigation grants in the seacoast
area, as defined by Section
38-75-310
, of the State shall be funded by the
premium taxes collected by the South Carolina Wind and Hail Joint Underwriting
Association; and

(
b) of the five percent of additional
premium taxes collected pursuant to item (4):

(
i) fifty percent shall be allocated
to residential and loss mitigation grants in the seacoast area, as defined by
Section
38-75-310
, of the State; and

(
ii) fifty percent shall be allocated
to retrofitting eligible insurable residential properties on a first-come,
first-served basis and to local loss mitigation grants in other parts of the
State.

(
6)
(
a) Notwithstanding any other
provision of this section, all grants awarded under this program shall be
allocated on a needs basis, prioritizing applicants with the greatest financial
need for assistance in completing hurricane mitigation retrofits. The director
shall establish criteria for determining financial need and shall prioritize
grant awards to ensure that program funds are directed toward homeowners who
would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of retrofitting their properties
without grant assistance. In making determinations of financial need, the
director may consider factors including, but not limited to:

(
i) total household income adjusted
for family size;

(
ii) the ratio of retrofitting costs
to household income;

(
iii) whether the applicant
qualifies for other need-based assistance programs; and

(
iv) any other relevant factors that
demonstrate the applicant's financial capacity or inability to complete
hurricane mitigation improvements without grant assistance.

(
b) The director shall publish
guidance on the needs-based criteria and allocation methodology to ensure
transparency and consistency in grant awards.

(5)
(
7)
The director or his designee may promulgate
regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this article.

S
ECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on February 24, 2026 at 12:38 PM