Citizens, Florida's 'last resort' insurance company, adds 4,000 policies

The state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. added about 4,000 policies last week amid continuing efforts to trim its number of customers.

Citizens had more than 1.176 million policies as of Friday, up from 1.172 million a week earlier and 1.167 million two weeks earlier, according to data posted on its website.

Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has become the state’s largest carrier in recent years as private companies dropped policies and raised rates because of financial problems.

Citizens reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing reductions because of what is known as a “depopulation” program, which moves customers into the private market.

Private insurers pulled more than 275,000 policies last year from Citizens through the program, according to information that went before the Citizens Board of Governors last week.