Want to build a “safe room” in your home before hurricane season starts? If you live in Fort Bend County and act now, the state of Texas may pay you $2,500 to do so.
Fort Bend County’s Office of Emergency Management is administering a new $75,000 grant program under which 30 county homeowners will be paid up to half the cost for building a new safe house or storm shelter in their single-family dwelling.
The state grant money – up to a maximum of $2,500 apiece – will be doled out on a first-come, first-serve basis via the Safe Room Rebate Program, said Janette Walker of the Office of Emergency Management.
To qualify for the grant money, the safe room or storm shelter must meet safety standards established by a Lubbock organization called the National Storm Shelter Association – made up largely of manufacturers and installers of safe rooms and storm shelters.
Walker said those applying for the grant also must receive approval from the Texas Historial Commission stating that their home is not historic.
Fort Bend is only one of six areas in the state in which the grant program is being offered, according to the Office of Emergency Management.
Money for the program came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and was provided to Fort Bend County by the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management.
Walker said people who are interested in applying for the program can email her at janette.walker@co.fort-bend.tx.us or visit the Office of Emergency Management at 307 Fort St. in Richmond.
