The state's insurance program will pay homeowners across the state to make their houses more secure against hurricane wind damage, using money from the state Hurricane Relief Fund.

The new Loss Mitigation Grant Program, launched Friday, will pay 35 percent of the cost of approved upgrades, to a maximum of $2,100. Repairs can have been made within the past four years, or may be new retrofits.

The goal, said state insurance commissioner J.P. Schmidt, is to improve the hurricane survivability of the state's housing inventory.

"It's very important for people to take steps to better protect themselves from hurricanes. We've seen the destruction on Kaua'i with Hurricane Iniki and more recently on the Gulf Coast," Schmidt said. "The vast majority of homes in Hawai'i can fairly easily be made more wind resistant."

The program Web site has details of what kinds of improvements qualify for a refund, and how to do the paperwork to apply.

The program's basic goal is to increase wind resistance, using things like steel brackets that connect roofs to walls and walls to foundations, strengthening of roof decking, protection of windows and construction of safe rooms inside homes.

While some of the state's county building codes call for some of these kinds of improvements in new construction, no code covers all the possible wind damage protection systems, so even newer homes can generally benefit from the program, Schmidt said.

"We had to develop our own specifications, and we now have some good engineering specifications," he said.

The state Legislature appropriated the $4 million for the program from the Hurricane Relief Fund.

"We encourage everyone to take some simple steps to protect their home from strong winds. Just a small investment now, will save a lot of money, heartache and grief tomorrow," Schmidt said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.