Travelers Fortifies Communities
Our Work with IBHS
Travelers is a key sponsor and executive committee board member of IBHS, an independent, nonprofit, scientific research organization tasked with understanding and quantifying the impact of building codes and standards on loss. Over the last decade, IBHS has identified gaps through full-scale laboratory testing at its state-of-the-art facility and influenced changes to existing building code standards and best practices to mitigate potential losses. A 2017 National Institute of Building Sciences study concluded that for every $1 spent on hazard mitigation, $6 is saved on future disaster costs. At Travelers, mitigation credits are available for homes designated as FORTIFIED by IBHS.
Resiliency is more important than ever. Extreme wind events like hurricanes and tornadoes can cause severe damage and greatly disrupt families and communities. To help build stronger, more resilient communities, in 2011 we joined forces with Habitat for Humanity®, a nonprofit organization that helps families build and improve their homes, and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) to build affordable, wind-resistant houses to FORTIFIED HomeTM standards throughout the country. In more recent years, we have also begun working with Smart Home America, Team Rubicon and SBP to further increase capacity for building FORTIFIEDTM in the nonprofit rebuilding sector.
Developed by IBHS, FORTIFIED Home construction practices are designed to help homeowners and communities better weather future storms, including hurricanes, high winds, hail and severe thunderstorms. Building FORTIFIED means exceeding the minimum standards set by building codes for construction techniques and materials. Our partnership shows that by making a few important changes in home construction standards, homes are better able to withstand storms without significantly adding to the cost.
Disasters often disproportionately impact low-income communities of color. The greatest asset of low-income homeowners tends to be their home. And according to the Urban Institute, home equity makes up a disproportionate amount of overall net worth for Black households. After a disaster, however, housing values drastically decrease. When a home is rebuilt, the value is restored, giving the resident more leverage and potential for upward economic mobility.
To date:
- Nearly 450 FORTIFIED homes for low-income families have been built by Habitat for Humanity, SBP and Team Rubicon across the United States, made possible in part with funding from Travelers.
- Travelers has supported the construction of nearly 90 FORTIFIED Habitat homes. Numerous Habitat for Humanity affiliates throughout the country have learned about safer building standards, and many are adopting them as they build new homes for some of America’s most vulnerable families.
- SBP has completed 320 FORTIFIED homes in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Texas. Of these homes, 182 were built with funding from Travelers and 47 SBP staff have received FORTIFIED construction training.
- Funding helped Team Rubicon in its efforts to rebuild 120 homes in Houston (33% of which were built to FORTIFIED standards), 500 roofs in Puerto Rico and 40 homes in Florida.
More About Our Travelers Fortifies Communities Investments
SBP
In 2019, Travelers launched a FORTIFIED building pilot program with SBP, a nonprofit organization that works to shrink the time between disaster and recovery. SBP has expanded the work through its SHARE Program, granting funds and training to other rebuilding nonprofits to build to FORTIFIED standards.
Homes built in New Orleans were tested by Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm that hit in late August 2021, and the homes held up well, consistent with their design; the SBP roofs withstood the storm compared with others in the neighborhood. Smart Home America, IBHS and other resilience advocacy groups have used these homes as examples of the benefits of FORTIFIED building and to advocate for stronger building codes, which Louisiana adopted in January 2023.
Smart Home America
Smart Home America works to educate leaders, residents and the construction industry about smarter, safer buildings and tested policies, products and techniques that build resilient and sustainable communities. Travelers began a partnership with the organization in 2018 to support the city of Houston in recovery from Hurricane Harvey. Most recently, Travelers funding is supporting the organization’s efforts in Louisiana following the devasting hurricane seasons of 2020 and 2021.
Team Rubicon
Team Rubicon is a nonprofit organization that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams after disasters. In 2018, Travelers provided funding for Team Rubicon to begin piloting a response-and-rebuilding model aimed at low-attention disasters (LADs) – that is, devastating weather events that affect communities but are not large enough in scale to draw the attention of government, media or philanthropic organizations. Team Rubicon is committed to building its capacity for incorporating FORTIFIED standards into its rebuilding program. Since then, Travelers has provided $1 million in grant funding for the LAD rebuild program.
In 2022, Travelers funding was directed to the rebuild operation in Selma, Alabama –rebuilding 18 homes and putting a FORTIFIED roof on every home that needed a new one. Also in 2022, Travelers entered into a new three-year commitment to provide $1.8 million to LAD rebuilds while also supporting Team Rubicon’s Ready Reserve general operating fund that allows the organization to deploy when disasters strike.
Four Selma FORTIFIED homes, which were built by Team Rubicon to IBHS’s Silver FORTIFIED standard, were in the path of a January 2023 tornado that further devastated this already hard-hit community. The four homes withstood the tornado’s effect with only minor damage, protecting families from loss of life and property.
A FORTIFIED Success Story
Army veteran Cheryl tells how Travelers and Habitat for Humanity helped her build a home that can better withstand hurricanes and storms.
(SPEECH)
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Strengthening Community with fortified homes, partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
Hashtag Think Safe. A crane lifts a worker to the upper level of a house under construction. A sign next to the house reads, Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven. Bill Casey, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven.
(SPEECH)
BILL CASEY: At Habitat, we take it very seriously that we're working with homeowners, that this may be their only shot at owning a home. They're low income working families. They don't have a lot of money for maintenance. And so we feel obligated to build the best home we can with the funds that we have. And Fortified does that for us.
(DESCRIPTION)
Workers hammer wood. A woman unloads windows from a truck. Cheryl, Habitat Homeowner.
(SPEECH)
CHERYL: After we get the windows in, then we can get the siding in, and we can get the sheet rocking in, and start painting, and doing all the things that you have to do for a house.
(DESCRIPTION)
She smiles. Glenn Stewart, Construction Supervisor, speaks to Cheryl on the porch.
(SPEECH)
GLENN STEWART: The glass that's in the windows is called impact glass. And that glass can take the impact of a 2 by 4 traveling at 35 miles an hour on end directly into it. It will not break. It's to our advantage to do whatever makes the house more secure. So Fortified, when the opportunity was brought up to us, we saw it as a way that the houses would last longer.
(DESCRIPTION)
Glenn installs the window. Cheryl works on a wood wall inside.
(SPEECH)
CHERYL: Oh, I'm going to feel a lot more secure when there is strong winds or really bad storm comes. Travelers has done a great job with helping us get that added to our house.
(DESCRIPTION)
A photo of Cheryl in the desert wearing an army uniform.
(SPEECH)
I was in Iraq for 18 months. After losing two jobs and being practically homeless, I could have never imagine me being here now. It's just a great opportunity for me to start my life over again.
(DESCRIPTION)
Long Island New York, October 2012. A street filled with water, Debris from wrecked homes
scattered on the ground. Bill Casey.
(SPEECH)
BILL CASEY: When Hurricane Sandy hit, some of the homes were completely destroyed along the coast. And we saw an opportunity through Travelers and Habitat International to help our homeowners, so that they could avoid that kind of situation.
(DESCRIPTION)
Driving past destroyed homes and trees. Downed power lines. Eric Nelson, Senior V P,
Enterprise Catastrophe Strategy and Analysis, Travelers.
(SPEECH)
ERIC NELSON: So many people have lost their lives in major hurricanes. Really, homes should be able to withstand a category 2, category 3 hurricane. And they don't today. And so we know how to build homes resilient in America, we just don't have those standards across the country.
MARLENE IBSEN:
(DESCRIPTION)
Marlene Ibsen, President and CEO, Travelers Foundation.
(SPEECH)
Fortified building is something that we really advocate for. We think it's important for families to have safer homes if they're in wind zone areas.
(DESCRIPTION)
The exterior of a house under construction with wood structure visible.
(SPEECH)
We approached Habitat and said, we'd like to help you build that capacity in partnership with the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. And they were very open to it.
ERIC NELSON:
(DESCRIPTION)
Eric Nelson.
(SPEECH)
There's a perception out there that you build to fortified standards and the costs are going to be astronomical. What we've proven through our partnership with Habitat that the cost is only about 5% increase in construction costs.
MARLENE IBSEN:
(DESCRIPTION)
Marlene Ibsen.
(SPEECH)
I would encourage any other funder, whether it's a company or a private foundation, to really look at the benefits of building fortified. It's great for neighborhoods, it's great for families, and it's great for the broader community in the long term to have more stable, safer housing.
(DESCRIPTION)
A worker spreads cement on a floor. A team lifts a wall. Bill Casey.
(SPEECH)
BILL CASEY: Our partnership with Travelers has been absolutely great. We've participated in training at the Traveler's facility. And it was one of the best training programs I've been to. And again, we went there kind of skeptical of the whole Fortified program. And when we left, we were convinced that we could actually do this.
CHERYL:
(DESCRIPTION)
Cheryl sits on the porch of her house and puts her arm around her teen daughter.
(SPEECH)
I'm really appreciative of having Travelers come and help with Habitat for Humanity, having
that extra security. If I have any kind of major storm come, it's really satisfying and really makes me feel very comfortable.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(DESCRIPTION)
Text, www dot Travelers dot com slash community. Hashtag Think Safe.
Partners in Strength
A partnership with Travelers and Habitat for Humanity shows how building standards can create stronger, storm-resistant homes in coastal communities.
(DESCRIPTION)
Red umbrella. Text, How FORTIFIED Can Help Protect Your Home: Partnership with Habitat for
Humanity. Hashtage ThinkSafe. Footage of homes submerged in water with just their roofs
and tops of trees showing. Text, New Orleans, September 2005.
(SPEECH)
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ERIC NELSON: I had the opportunity to go down to New Orleans about three months after
Hurricane Katrina. And the devastation was unbelievable.
(DESCRIPTION)
A large tree uprooted in a front yard that fell on the roof of a destroyed house. Footage of a
neighborhood of destroyed homes with huge piles of wood and debris in the streets.
(SPEECH)
We shouldn't have had the extent of the damage that we saw on the Gulf Coast. And what we
learned as an industry is that we do not have standards for building codes.
(DESCRIPTION)
Eric Nelson, wearing a polo shirt with the Travelers logo, sitting inside a home under
construction and speaking to camera. Text, Eric Nelson, Senior VP, Enterprise Catastrophe
Strategy and Analysis, Travelers.
(SPEECH)
50% of Americans live within 25 miles of the coast. We're not going to avoid the risk. So let's
tackle it head on and build a more resilient America.
(DESCRIPTION)
A home under construction with a sign out front that reads, Habitat for Humanity of Greater
New Haven. A group of people in red shirts with a white umbrella on the back are gathered
around a man in a Habitat for Humanity shirt who is speaking to them.
(SPEECH)
SPEAKER 2: Just a few tasks we have going on-- some bamboo floor. We're going to put down
some tiles.
MARLENE IBSEN:
(DESCRIPTION)
Marlene sits inside an unfinished home speaking to camera. Text, Marlene Ibsen, President and
CEO, Travelers Foundation.
(SPEECH)
Travelers Fortifies Homes is a partnership among Travelers, Habitat for Humanity, and the
Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. And the idea is that we would all work
together to help Habitat affiliates around the country who are in coastal areas understand the
importance and affordability of building fortified homes.
GLENN STEWART:
(DESCRIPTION)
A group of people outdoors looking up. Glenn is pointing up as he speaks.
(SPEECH)
These metal straps were applied to the top wall before we lifted it up. Now we need to nail
them off on the bottom wall. It's
(DESCRIPTION)
A view of the side of an unfinished house with long metal vertical straps attached at different
places on the plywood. People hammering in nails on the side of the house. Text, Glenn
Stewart, Construction Supervisor, Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven. Glenn speaks as
he stands on a ladder against the side of the house holding a hammer.
(SPEECH)
one of our volunteers' favorite job to get up here and nail off all the straps. The purpose of the
straps are to hold the first and second floor together in a wind load stress situation. And it
would keep any movement between the second and first floor to a minimum.
SPEAKERS: 1, 2, 3.
(DESCRIPTION)
A row of people in red shirts squat on the ground, and then lift up a wall of the house together.
Antoine using a circular saw, then measuring a structure labeled Front Wall. The back of his
shirt reads Work Crew. Text, Antoine Claiborne, Construction Supervisor, Habitat for Humanity
of Greater New Haven. Antoine is seated inside an unfinished house speaking to camera.
(SPEECH)
ANTOINE CLAIBORNE: With the doors we used, they have a specific design pressure. So that
means that with the pressures blowing in on the door and the negative pressures pulling on the
door from both sides, they're able to withstand certain wind speeds and wind loads on the
doors.
(DESCRIPTION)
A closeup of a shingled roof. Eric Nelson.
(SPEECH)
ERIC NELSON: There's also fortifying the roof by taping this joints on the plywood. In case your
shingles blow off, that reduces water penetration.
(DESCRIPTION)
Volunteers hammering on the front wall structure. Glenn and a woman installing a thick-framed
window.
(SPEECH)
GLENN STEWART: When we explain Fortified to our homeowners, it's an ongoing process.
Because they're out here working with us. So they're actually putting in the whole down boots. They're actually saying, "Why are these windows so heavy?" Say, "Wow, the windows are so heavy, because they have impact glass in them." All these boots are going to be what keeps this house from moving in a really heavy wind.
ERIC NELSON:
(DESCRIPTION)
A view inside the unfinished wood structure of a house, showing the metal strap fortifications.
Eric Nelson.
(SPEECH)
If you're right along the coast, you might decide to put in storm shutters. If you're redoing the
roof, you put in a more resilient roof-- change your roof dynamics. So each one is a trade off.
So what we have on www.disastersafety.org is a bronze standard, a silver standard, and a gold
standard. And so this really gives the consumer the roadmap to different techniques they can
do to fortify their house.
MARLENE IBSEN:
(DESCRIPTION)
Marlene Ibsen.
(SPEECH)
When you're able to put a Fortified home or more than one home in a neighborhood, you're
definitely getting an opportunity to help protect that individual family that's in the home. But
you're also building an opportunity to protect that neighborhood. And you're providing some
knowledge and education within the neighborhood about Fortified building as well.
(DESCRIPTION)
Scenes from the construction site of people working. A blue pickup truck with the Habitat for
Humanity logo on the side. Text, www.travelers.com/community. Hashtag ThinkSafe.
(SPEECH)
[MUSIC PLAYING]
More Community
Veterans Dedicated to Resilience & Recovery
Travelers supports Team Rubicon in deploying emergency response teams while providing veterans with a new sense of purpose, community and identity.
Empowering Entrepreneurs
The Travelers Small Business Risk Education program is giving women, minority and veteran entrepreneurs the support and insights they need as they pursue the American dream.
Road Safety
Travelers is dedicated to encouraging all drivers and passengers to set positive examples behind the wheel and help change attitudes about driving habits.
