Definitions

Definitions. 1. Strengthen Mississippi Homes (SMH) –a program established pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. §83-1-191, and for which funding was made available by House Bill 1705, 2024 Mississippi Legislature Regular Session, as part of the Comprehensive Hurricane Damage Mitigation Program, administered by the Mississippi Insurance Department (MID) to make financial grants to retrofit roofs of qualified dwellings to resist loss due to hurricane, tornado, or other catastrophic windstorm events and to meet or exceed the FORTIFIED roof standard of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. 2. Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) – a non-profit research and communications organization of the property and casualty insurance industry that defines the FORTIFIED roofing construction standard for homes. The FORTIFIED standard is the standard adopted by MID in MID Bulletin 2024-4 as the building standard for the SMH Program. 3. Applicant – a person submitting an application for a grant award under the SMH Program. For the purposes of this Regulation, the word “Homeowner” may be used interchangeably with “Applicant”. 4. Qualified Dwellings – a qualified dwelling is a home that meets the following criteria: a. The dwelling must be the owner’s primary residence; b. The dwelling must be owner occupied, single family, and cannot be a condominium or a mobile home; c. The dwelling must be in good repair (excluding current condition of the roof covering) unless damaged by a hurricane, non- hurricane wind, or hail. SMH grant funds cannot be used for maintenance or repairs but may be used in conjunction with repairs or reconstruction necessitated by damages from a hurricane, non-hurricane wind, or hail; d. The dwelling must have an in-force insurance policy covering wind and hail; e. If the home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, the home must have a valid policy covering damage from flood, either through a private insurer or the National Flood Insurance Program; and f. The home has not been previously fortified. 5. Flood Insurance – insurance policies that cover the costs to repair damage to dwelling and their contents caused by floods. This insurance may include insurance policies that cover residential flood and policies written through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a program enacted by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, or through a private insurer. 6. Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) – an area having special flood, mudflow, or flood- related erosion hazards on a Flood Hazard Boundary Map or a Flood Insurance Rate Map as shown on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s website. The SFHA is the area where the NFIP’s floodplain management regulations must be enforced and the area where the mandatory purchase of flood insurance applies. 7. Contractor – Any person certified by IBHS as a FORTIFIED contractor contracting or undertaking as prime contractor or subcontractor to do any retrofit work under this program, who has met the eligibility requirements set forth in Rule 7.07 of this Regulation. 8. Evaluator – an independent third party certified by IBHS as a FORTIFIED evaluator for hurricane and high wind and hail who can verify that a home meets the FORTIFIED roofing construction standard, who has met the eligibility requirements set forth in Rule 7.09 of this Regulation. 9. Third-Party Administrator (TPA) – an independent third party administrator as may be retained by MID to assist MID and act on its behalf regarding certain aspects of SMH, in compliance with the provisions set forth in House Bill 1705, 2024 Mississippi Legislature Regular Session. 10. FORTIFIED - a voluntary construction and re-roofing Program designed to strengthen homes and commercial buildings against specific types of severe weather such as high winds, hail, hurricanes and tornados. This standard has been adopted by the MID as the building standard for SMH in MID Bulletin 2024-4. 11. Retrofit – to make changes to an existing building to protect it from specific hazards; specifically, high winds, hail, hurricanes and tornadoes. 12. Grant Round – a single grant cycle that is opened with the acceptance of new applications for SMH grants and ends with the disbursement of grant awards from funds available for the grant cycle. Each Grant Round will be established pursuant to guidance provided in