The Florida Home Insurance Crisis

The term “Crisis” used above is not an exaggeration or a scare tactic. If you are one of the thousands of Floridians who have been notified of a huge increase in your home insurance premium, you already understand this. Even worse, you may have been “non-renewed,” meaning that you will be without insurance when your current policy expires. You now have a few months to find a new underwriter if one will take you.
The website, Insurance.com, estimates that annual home insurance premiums in Florida are now $1,300 more than the national average. Seniors who own their residences are seeing this expense grow out of control, threatening their ability to remain in those beloved homes. Even if you are a home renter or apartment dweller, this situation will affect you. Landlords must pay higher premiums too, forcing rents to go up, and the state which taxes you is supporting an alternative underwriter, Citizens Property Insurance. This “last chance” underwriter takes risks that no one else will handle, pledging the State of Florida’s support if it cannot cover losses.
Your property insurance costs are likely increasing at an unprecedented speed and there is no end in sight. Many Florida insurance companies are refusing to write new policies, pulling out of the state, or going bankrupt. Seniors and other homeowners are paying the price for this failing market, despite it not being their fault. How did this situation develop?
Many people will think first of Florida’s exposure to hurricane damage, but this explanation does not seem to hold up. States like Texas, Louisiana, and the Carolinas are not suffering this severe effect; all of them have had major storm damage in the last decade. Insurance industry analysts point to the unique set of laws and regulations affecting insurance companies in Florida. One fact seems to support this theory: Florida saw more than 100,000 property claim lawsuits last year. That was 82 percent of all the home insurance litigation in the entire nation! No other state had more than 900 property claim lawsuits filed.
Governor DeSantis has called a special session of the legislature to deal with this crisis. This session is to start next Monday, May 23, and run through Friday, May 27. It is time for homeowners, especially senior homeowners to let their elected representatives know loud and clear how they feel about this. Home insurance affordability is a real issue that materially affects Florida’s seniors. The legislature spends a great amount of time passing laws about “fluff” issues, but they have consistently refused to address this problem.
Here is how to make your voice heard. Go to the Find Your Representative website and enter the needed address information. You will see the address and phone information for your state representative and senator. If you can, send them a short letter, but it is better to call and leave a message. You are probably going to get an answering machine. Still, each Florida state senator and representative should hear from hundreds of citizens on this matter. The fact that it has been so long without remedy is a disgrace.
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