Citizens, Florida's state-backed property insurance, adds another 4,000 policies

The state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. added more than 4,000 policies last week as Florida nears the halfway point of the 2024 hurricane season.

Citizens had 1,241,766 policies as of Friday, up from 1,237,500 policies a week earlier and 1,234,270 policies two weeks earlier, according to data on its website.

Citizens officials say they expect the total to drop below 1 million policies by the end of the year because of a “depopulation” program aimed at moving homeowners into the private insurance market.

But amid the hurricane season, policies are not expected to start leaving Citizens until late October.

The six-month season started June 1 and will end Nov. 30. Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has become Florida’s largest property insurer in recent years as private carriers faced financial problems.

Citizens reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing reductions because of the depopulation program.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter