The Strengthen Colorado Homes roof grant — from the signed act, not the headlines
In May 2026 Colorado created a state program to help homeowners pay for hail-resistant roofs: Senate Bill 26-155, the Strengthen Colorado Homes Enterprise. Most of what’s circulating about it is secondhand. We pulled the enrolled act and read it. Here’s what it says — and what it doesn’t.
The one number everyone quotes isn’t in the law
You’ve probably read that the program grants “up to $10,000 per home.” That figure does not appear anywhere in the signed act. Grant amounts, timing, and criteria are set later, by rule, by the program’s board — which the Division of Insurance is still seating as of July 2026. Until those rules publish, any dollar cap you read is a projection, not the law.
What the statute does say
- Who pays for it: insurers selling homeowners policies in Colorado pay an annual fee of one-half of one percent of premium. The act says an insurer “shall not surcharge” policyholders for it — the fee can’t legally show up as a line on your bill.
- Where the money goes: at least 85% of fee revenue must fund grants to Colorado homeowners to retrofit homes against hail and windstorm losses.
- What counts as a resilient roof: the act names the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety’s FORTIFIED certification — or “a similar science-based, verifiable certification” the board approves. (More on what that means for shingle choices in FORTIFIED vs. Class 4.)
- What you’d have to do (§10-4-2004): own an insurable Colorado residential property covered by a homeowners policy; pull all required permits; comply with building codes; arrange and pay for required inspections; build to the board’s resilient-roof standard; and use a contractor who is licensed, belongs to a professional roofing association, and attests to no deductible-waiving and to repairing rather than replacing when that’s the right call.
- Who goes first: primary residences are prioritized. The board also weighs applicant income, how weather-battered your area historically is, the age of your roof, home size, and whether your town has adopted hail-resistant building codes.
The honest timeline
The act takes effect August 12, 2026. The board gets seated, writes rules, and the fee mechanism follows — so there is no application to file today, and anyone offering to “get you on the list” is selling something. The Division of Insurance will publish program details; its announcements are the source to trust.
What’s worth doing right now
If hail or age forces a reroof before the grants open, you don’t have to leave money on the table: impact-resistant roofing can earn an insurance discount today (see how to actually claim it), and building to the FORTIFIED standard now means your roof already speaks the language the grant program was written in. Keep every document — permit, inspection record, product certification, contractor invoice. Paper is what programs pay.