LOUISIANA (KLFY) — A few days away from the beginning of hurricane season, starting June 1 until November 30, Louisiana lawmakers are looking for more long-term ways to address the insurance crisis.

Mark Friedlander, a national spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, which is a nonprofit research and education organization, said the property casualty industry is focused on predicting and preventing losses from severe weather events and they look at ways to mitigate risk.

“The roof is the first line of defense when it comes to windstorms,” he explained. “A fortified roof has proven to be a method to prevent severe damage from hurricanes and other windstorms and we’ve seen this play out in neighboring states in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, where fortified roofs have prevented severe damage from landfall hurricanes, whereas other homes that aren’t fortified suffer severe damage, but the fortified homes have minimal impacts.”

In addition, he said a fortified roofing system is a proven method and meets the standards of the Insurance Institute for Business Home Safety. It is also proven to lower the risk of an insurance claim.

“If you fortify your home, it’s a stronger home more resilient to windstorms,” said Friedlander. “You have less of a chance of damage meaning less of a chance we will file a claim, and the big picture is once again the focus on predicting and preventing losses from severe weather events. Less claims is better for everybody because that means insurance rates could stabilize because we have less overall losses from a severe weather event whether it’s a hurricane or another windstorm event you’re going to have less claim.”

The forfeited roof grant program will give people who install it a $10,000 tax credit. Friedlander said there will be positive incentives to get more homeowners to participate to take the steps to be more resilient to hurricanes and other windstorm events.

“There was an audit done that showed those homes that do have fortified roofs already in Louisiana save an average 22% on their insurance premiums so it is proven that taking steps to mitigate loss leads to a reduction in the cost of insurance and this is true not only Louisiana but other states as well,” he said. “We know the history of landfalling hurricanes in Louisiana. We have had many in recent years particularly the 2020-2021 hurricane seasons which are historic in terms of the level of named storms that made landfall in Louisiana. So we know Louisiana and all the Gulf Coast states are always going to be very vulnerable to landfall hurricanes and it’s really important for all homeowners to consider steps they could take to make their homes more resilient to the impacts of landfalling hurricanes, while at the same time, providing an opportunity where they could generate a discount on their home insurance premium, which, of course we know is a major concern for Louisiana consumers.”

Billy Savely Jr., a general contractor and owner of Lafayette Roofing spoke on the goals of the program.

“The main initiative with Louisiana’s fortified roof program is to mitigate damage and lessen the time that homeowners are out of the home after a potential storm,” said Savely. “So, the fortified roof project initiative is to try to strengthen the roof applications for the future and it’s got its pros and cons, but I do think that overall, it is a great way to somewhat have a grasp on what works best in our region and comparison to previous storm damages.”

The legislative session ends on June 12th.

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