Employs a dedicated mitigation funding pathway tied to the state’s insurance regulatory system

Introduction

Oklahoma’s Strengthen Oklahoma Homes (SOH) program, publicly called OKReady, is the state’s primary approach to financing property-level roof retrofits for wind and hail risk (OID n.d.). The program was created under the Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Act of 2024¹ (HB 3089) and implemented through pilot waves that began in 2025 (OID 2025b). The program went statewide in January of 2026 with four waves and a goal of 1,200 applications. Of note, this is the first grant program to focus exclusively on Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) FORTIFIED Roofs™ with the Hail Supplement. Unlike North Carolina’s use of underwriting surplus or Alabama’s earmarked premium tax structure, Oklahoma’s model relies on regulator-controlled insurance sector fee revenue administered through the state insurance department. This creates a dedicated mitigation funding pathway tied to the state’s insurance regulatory system rather than to general appropriations or insurer-owned surplus.

This case study is part of Scaling FORTIFIED Roof Adoption, a project showing how states are shifting from reactive disaster spending toward proactive investments in resilient infrastructure.

Programs

OKReady/Strengthen Oklahoma Homes

Program Overview: The Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Program (OKReady) is a statewide residential mitigation initiative established to help homeowners reduce losses from severe wind and hail events through the installation of IBHS FORTIFIED Roof systems. Administered by the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID), the program combines grants, financing, contractor certification, and insurance incentives to increase adoption of resilient roofing while lowering long-term disaster losses. The financing mechanism is an insurance-regulatory financing and insurance premium incentive process. The financing is supported by the regulatory environment, while the economic value comes from future insurance premium savings recognized by participating insurers.

Funding Source: Funding flows through statutory transfers authorized under HB 3089. The Oklahoma insurance commissioner may transfer up to 50% of the year-end balance, capped at $10 million per fiscal year, from the State Insurance Commissioner Revolving Fund into the SOH program fund for grants.² The revolving fund is a regulator-controlled account supported by fees paid by private insurers and other regulated entities. Although the enabling statute refers to the account as a “revolving fund,” the program does not function as a self-sustaining repayment-based financing mechanism. Instead, it operates as a grant program capitalized through transfers from insurance-sector regulatory revenues.³

Roof Financing: The OID administers grants of up to $10,000 per home for roof replacements that achieve a FORTIFIED Roof designation (OID n.d.). Program materials specify a focus on the FORTIFIED Roof High Wind designation and the Hail Supplement.

Scale: The program was piloted in 2025, targeting the highest risk zip codes. It went statewide starting in January 2026 with a goal of 1,200 applications for the year (OID 2025d). The phased pilot structure allowed OID to evaluate contractor capacity, homeowner demand, geographic uptake patterns, and future claims performance before broader statewide scaling. In this sense, the program functioned not only as a mitigation grant initiative, but also as a market-development and data-generation effort intended to inform future program expansion and insurer participation.

Rationale: The program is designed to put money toward hazard mitigation, so roof upgrades occur before the next severe convective storm or tornado event, rather than relying only on post-disaster repair and insurance claims. Oklahoma’s model reflects an emerging view that residential mitigation can function as part of insurance governance itself rather than solely as a disaster-recovery or homeowner-assistance program. By embedding resilience funding within the insurance regulatory system, the state is implicitly treating stronger roofs and reduced claims exposure as tools for long-term market stabilization. Oklahoma’s statewide program demonstrates that FORTIFIED-style mitigation finance is valuable beyond coastal hurricane exposure for inland severe-convective-storm markets where hail and tornado losses are major drivers of insurance instability.

Access to Financing: Homeowners with active insurance can apply during enrollment windows—there are four planned for 2026. Homeowners typically apply to the program and arrange the required evaluator services themselves (OID 2025c). Contractors complete the roof work. Evaluators document roof conditions and verify that the completed work meets IBHS requirements so the designation can be issued. OID administers the grant process and releases payment after verification and designation. The program does include an income-based prioritization, with lower-income households earning less than $62,000 per year receiving priority if there are more applications than funds.

Additional Context: Oklahoma is one of the first states to explicitly connect resilience financing with insurance market incentives. Rather than relying solely on grant funding, the program demonstrates how state government can convene regulators, lenders, contractors, and insurers to create a financing ecosystem that lowers the upfront barrier to resilient construction. The program represents an evolution from resilience as a subsidy to resilience as a financeable investment.

Insurance Discounts for FORTIFIED Roofs

Program Overview: Oklahoma encourages insurers to recognize the reduced risk associated with FORTIFIED Roof designations through premium discounts and other underwriting incentives. Rather than prescribing a single statewide discount, insurers incorporate verified mitigation into their own underwriting and pricing practices, allowing homeowners who invest in resilient construction to benefit from lower insurance costs over the life of the roof. The mechanism that triggers this are insurance premium discounts based on verified IBHS designations.

Funding Source: Discounts are provided by private insurers and summarized by OID to improve transparency for consumers.

Roof Financing: The incentive is a premium discount on the wind portion of the policy for homes that achieve a FORTIFIED designation. The average premium reduction with a FORTIFIED designation through the program is $730 annually per homeowner.

Scale: Discount levels vary by insurer. State law provides for premium discounts or rate reductions for resistance to tornado or other wind events, but allows insurers to set the discounts based on their markets.⁴

Rationale: The discount structure is intended to reinforce households’ financial value proposition of verified mitigation by connecting stronger roof performance to lower ongoing insurance costs. While discount levels vary across carriers, the publication of available discounts by OID helps create transparency around the insurance value of resilience investments.

Access to Financing: Homeowners must complete the verified roof upgrade and obtain the IBHS designation documentation required for insurer recognition. There is no income threshold or special high-risk zone requirement to receive the discount.

Additional Context: Unlike grants or tax credits, insurance discounts are market-based incentives that persist for as long as the resilient feature remains in place and the insurer continues to recognize the mitigation benefit. They therefore create a long-term economic signal that reinforces resilient building practices without requiring ongoing public appropriations. As more insurers incorporate mitigation into underwriting models, these discounts have the potential to become an increasingly important component of residential adaptation finance.

Summary Tables

Oklahoma's approach creates a financing structure that lowers the upfront cost of mitigation and rewards homeowners for verified risk reduction.

Table 1. Financing Mechanisms

Table 2. Beneficiaries

The Oklahoma model is newer, but still reflects a partnership approach.

Table 3. Partners

Insights

Financial Sustainability: Oklahoma’s program demonstrates how pre-disaster mitigation funding can be embedded within the insurance regulatory system. By creating a dedicated statutory pathway through which insurance-sector regulatory revenue can support mitigation grants, the state is effectively treating residential resilience as part of long-term insurance market stabilization.

Accessibility: The OKReady program is structured to reach homeowners statewide through phased enrollment windows organized by ZIP code (OID 2025a). Grants of up to $10,000 can substantially offset the cost of a FORTIFIED Roof upgrade, improving accessibility for homeowners who might otherwise defer mitigation investments. The state program provides an approved list of evaluators and contractors for homeowners to choose from. Other than scheduling visits, this requires very little management by the homeowner. Homeowners can also pair grants with an insurance claim if they had recent storm damage, which offsets more of the cost for the homeowner. In addition, the program includes an income-based prioritization, with lower-income households receiving priority.

Government Role: OID plays a central role in program design and implementation. The Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Act provides the statutory authority for the program and for transfers from the State Insurance Commissioner Revolving Fund into the mitigation grant fund.⁵ The department administers the grant process, verifies compliance with IBHS standards, and publishes information on available insurance discounts for FORTIFIED Roofs.

Potential for Replicability: Oklahoma’s approach illustrates how states can use insurance regulatory funding streams to finance pre-disaster mitigation. By linking mitigation grants to insurance-sector revenue and pairing them with insurance premium discounts for verified roof upgrades, the program aligns homeowner incentives with insurer risk reduction. States facing severe convective storm or tornado risk may find this model particularly relevant, especially where insurance regulators control dedicated funds supported by industry fees.

References

OID. 2025a. Oklahoma Insurance Department Releases Grant Details for OKReady. January 21. https://www.oid.ok.gov/release_012125/.

OID. 2025b. OKReady Announces New Zip Codes for Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Grant Program. July 29. https://www.oid.ok.gov/release_072925/.

OID. 2025c. OKReady Announces Zip Codes for Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Grant Program. February 19. https://www.oid.ok.gov/release_021925/.

OID. 2025d. OKReady Expands First Pilot for Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Grant Program. March 24. https://www.oid.ok.gov/release_032425/.

OID. 2025e. OKReady Expands Second Pilot for Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Grant Program. June 16. https://www.oid.ok.gov/release_061625/.

OID. n.d. “What Is the Strengthen Oklahoma Homes (SOH) Program?” Oklahoma Insurance Department. https://www.oid.ok.gov/okready/.

1. An Act Relating to Insurance, HB3089, Oklahoma State Legislature Regular Session (2024). https://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=hb3089&Session=2400.↩︎
2. Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Revolving Fund, 36 Oklahoma Statutes §§ 36-976 (2024). https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/title-36/section-36-976/.↩︎
3. Ibid.↩︎
4. Premium Discount or Rate Reduction for Resistance to Tornado or Other Wind Events, 36 Oklahoma Statutes § 961 (2018). https://govt.westlaw.com/okjc/Document/ND7A80C60979711E79CE4BD3335EDAE29?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=StatuteNavigator&contextData=%28sc.Default%29.↩︎
5. HB3089, Oklahoma State Legislature Regular Session (2024). https://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=hb3089&Session=2400.↩︎

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ashley Scott, director of the Strengthen Oklahoma Homes Program, for her valuable contributions, insights, and support in the development of this work.

Authors and Affiliations

• Lydia Olander, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University
• Matt Posner, The Resiliency Company
• Sujay Dhanagare, Duke University

The authors welcome corrections and clarifications. Please contact lydia.olander@duke.edu.

Citation

Olander, L., M. Posner, and S. Dhanagare.  2026. FORTIFIED Roof Case Study: Oklahoma. NI 26-22. Durham, NC: Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University. https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/publications/fortified-roof-case-study-oklahoma.