That’s about 15,000 policies, according to Citizens. 1, 2024, anyone with home coverage over $600,000 is required to have flood insurance. “This will add a layer of enforcement to policyholders that are already required to have it and don’t,” Lightbody said.īut what will make the new Citizens policy so groundbreaking is when it starts to apply to folks outside flood zones. A 2020 review of mortgages backed by the federal government in Florida showed that only about 65% of homeowners required to buy flood insurance had a policy. So most of those nearly 300,000 policyholders could already be required to have flood insurance.īut research shows that not all homeowners comply with the rules. Practically speaking, those first two moves may have only a small impact since flood insurance is already required for anyone with a mortgage on a property inside a flood zone. On July 1, current policyholders who live in designated flood zones will be required to have flood insurance - a switch that will affect about 295,000 policies, according to Citizens. On April 1, it applies to all new policyholders with properties in a flood zone. But for everyone else, the mandate will roll out over the next four years. The policy doesn’t affect Citizens policyholders who aren’t insured for wind coverage, about 300,000 customers statewide. During Hurricane Ian, only 18% of homes in evacuation zones had flood insurance, and some estimates suggest that up to half the damage from the storm could be uninsured flood damage.Įven now, Florida leads the nation in flood insurance policies with 1.7 million in force, and if all 1.2 million affected Citizens policyholders sign up, it could nearly double the state’s flood insurance footprint. There is no doubt that many Floridians, even in coastal counties, are already vulnerable to catastrophic flooding losses. Or, as some critics point out, the extra cost could be enough to push more homeowners out of the insurance market altogether, leaving them uncovered and unprepared for the stronger, wetter hurricanes scientists are predicting. The new policy could go a long way toward addressing Florida’s massive gap in flood insurance, but it will also drive up costs for many homeowners already facing spiraling insurance bills. There have been pie-in-the-sky calls for mandatory flood insurance for anyone who owns a home, so it’s a really big deal for a state that currently does represent a large amount of the policies under the flood insurance program, which is a big indicator of risk.” “I haven’t seen a sweeping requirement like this anywhere else,” said Laura Lightbody, project director of the flood-prepared communities program at The Pew Charitable Trusts. And there could be plenty of those as private wind insurance costs continue to skyrocket and more companies go belly up, leaving Citizens the best option. It also will apply to any new Citizens customers, with some of them impacted as early as April 1. At minimum, that’s likely to add hundreds of dollars a year to the insurance bill.Īs the mandate is phased in over the next few years, it could affect 1.2 million current Citizens policy holders, who will be required to get flood insurance no matter where they live or see their coverage canceled. The provision, included in a sweeping insurance bill passed late last year, will make flood insurance mandatory for any homeowners with hurricane wind policies from Citizens Insurance, the state-run insurer of last resort. It will force them to also buy flood insurance - even if their homes aren’t in designated flood zones. A little-noticed line in the Florida Legislature’s latest attempt to fix the state’s fractured home insurance market promises to have big impacts on more than a million Floridians.
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