Since Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, Florida has taken the lead in adopting regulatory

provisions related to hurricane resistant construction. Shortly after Andrew, Florida

Statute 627.0629 was adopted to require residential property insurance providers in

Florida to provide “discounts, credits, or other rate differentials, or other appropriate

reductions in deductibles” for residential properties where construction methods that have

been shown to reduce loss caused by windstorms are employed. Incentives are required

to be offered for mitigation techniques that address “roof strength, roof covering

performance, roof-to-wall strength, wall-to-floor-to-foundation strength, opening

protection, and window, door, and skylight strength.” Insurance providers are required to

provide a percentage discount range for the mitigation measure to the Florida Office of

Insurance Regulation to be available to homeowners.

In the years since Andrew, changes have been made to continue to improve the hurricane

resistance of homes. This is done predominately through building codes for

new homes and through insurance incentives for existing homes.