By Max Sheikh
When Rick Wyatt opened his latest insurance statement from State Farm he felt lucky
“I’m safe with my State Farm” he said. “But a small but growing minority is now rid of their homeowner’s insurance and frankly it’s fascinating”
But it is also pretty scary.
Across Florida and here in Jacksonville families are getting crushed by insurance costs. Premiums are going up fast, policies are getting canceled, and a lot of people do not know what to do. Florida’s average home insurance premium is now more than three and a half times higher than the national average according to the National Public Radio. Some people have seen their rates go up 40 percent in just a year. In the last few years, after storms like Hurricane Ian, over 30 insurance companies either left Florida or went bankrupt. That has left homeowners with fewer options and higher prices. Now the state-run Citizens Insurance covers over 1.2 million policies across Florida. It was supposed to be the backup plan, the last resort, but now it is the biggest insurer in the state. And if a big hurricane hits and Citizens runs out of money, every homeowner could have to pay extra fees to bail it out.
A lot of families are stuck making tough choices. A survey from Redfin found that one in three Florida homeowners who lost coverage have already moved or are planning to move. Even people who stay are feeling the pressure. A University of North Florida poll showed that 34 percent of Floridians think housing and insurance costs are the biggest problem right now, even more than jobs or healthcare.
“I could not tell you what our officials are doing to combat the prices and action is way overdue.”
Kermit o’steen
The stories are everywhere in Jacksonville and around Northeast Florida. Glen Clermont, who owns a home in St Augustine, said he had to pay for a new roof just to maybe lower his insurance bill. “It’s frustrating that it keeps going up” Clermont said to News4Jax. He hopes it helps but he is not even sure anymore.
Not everyone can spend thousands on repairs just to stay covered. Jessica Bradle, a single mom from St Johns County, lost her condominium in Hurricane Ian and said the real nightmare was dealing with her insurance company. Her claim dragged on for months and she had to move her family between three different rentals just to keep a roof over their heads. “We’ve had to move two times now” she said to News4Jax. “I’m a single mother the insurer has not helped me in any way”.
Other people who have not lost their coverage yet are still getting crushed. Some are selling homes they love because the annual insurance bill is too much. Others are cutting back on everything else just to keep up with payments. Over 70 percent of Florida homeowners have seen either a premium hike or less coverage in the past year. And more people are doing something risky in dropping insurance completely.
Today, about 15 to 20 percent of Florida homeowners do not have insurance at all compared to about 7 percent nationally. A lot of them own their homes outright and just decided they could not justify spending thousands every year for something that might not even help after a storm. But experts warn it is a significant risk. If a hurricane hits and a resident has no insurance, it could mean losing everything and not being able to rebuild. Most people know that but at the same time they cannot keep paying.
Kermit O’Steen from Florida said it is frustrating to see how long it’s taken for leaders to act.
“I could not tell you what our officials are doing to combat the prices and action is way overdue” he said.
The state government has tried to fix things. Lawmakers passed some reforms to offer grants to help people harden their homes with new roofs and storm windows. A few new insurance companies have entered the market. Citizens is working to “depopulate” by moving policies to the private market. They are planning a small five percent rate cut this year. But it is not enough to fix years of damage and huge price jumps. And if another big hurricane hits all the progress could disappear overnight.
One thing is clear though the insurance crisis has made staying in Florida harder for everybody and there are no easy answers coming any time soon.
Graphic by Philip Berkwit
