Thousands of homeowners could soon be without insurance — just weeks after one of the country's worst natural disasters.
What's happening?
In November, 648,843 policyholders in Florida will have their home insurance moved from the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to private companies, as Florida Politics reported Sept. 11. The transfers will come just weeks after Hurricane Milton swamped the state and barely a month after Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in the Big Bend area where the Florida Panhandle meets the peninsula.
Helene killed hundreds of people in multiple states, including as far up the East Coast as Virginia, becoming the deadliest storm in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It also is expected to be one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history.
In 2022, the Florida legislature approved a depopulation program for Citizens. It now has over 1.2 million insurance policies — more than it had then.
In August, the Office of Insurance Regulation said 10 private companies would take on 413,808 contracts. More recently, two insurers were added to the list to help take on 235,035 more, according to Florida Politics.
That may be little solace, however. Citizens says on its website that it "is committed to helping its policyholders find coverage in the private market," per Newsweek. However, private companies have grown wary of insuring homeowners in the Sunshine State, or they may charge exorbitant premiums.
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