Insurance crisis leaves Florida’s homeowners in increasing jeopardy

The rising cost of homeowners insurance is the biggest risk to the South Florida housing market. As more and more home insurers go bust or drop out of the Florida market, Sunshine State homeowners are paying the price both literally and figuratively. They now have fewer choices and face higher premiums. And it’s getting worse every year.

Over the past six months, some of the best-known insurers said they won’t renew thousands of existing homeowner policies or write new ones. Other companies dropped out for financial reasons, either because Florida’s storm risk made their business less profitable or because they faced insolvency due to industry regulations.

Lost coverage has left thousands of policy holders scrambling for affordable coverage or any coverage at all. Many have had to turn to the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the insurer of last-resort.

To illustrate the numbers, United Property and Casualty Insurance Co., which was among the top 10 homeowners’ insurers in Florida, dropped 180,000 policyholders; St. John’s Insurance left 160,000 Florida customers scrambling for coverage; Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Company gave its 37,000 customers until April 15 to find new coverage; Lighthouse Insurance left 13,000 policy holders in the lurch; and Lexington dropped 8,000 customers. Companies left in business are charging more for policies to offset their risk. Specific neighborhoods in South Florida will see costs of 100-125% above the national average and will have mandatory flood insurance requirements if securing a mortgage.

Florida’s property insurance market is in crisis as companies try to reduce overall exposure due to catastrophic loss as well as rampant fraud and frivolous litigation.

Many point to fraud and litigation as being the biggest problem for insurance companies. In fact, 75% of home insurance claim lawsuits nationwide were filed in Florida. They specifically point to century-old legislation (FL Statute 627.428) that require the insurance company to pay for all legal fees in the case if it ends up paying out more than the original claim. Roofers and attorneys know this, so when they attempt to replace a roof because of a few broken tiles and the insurer denies the claim, they will sue. The attorneys know they are going to get their plaintiff costs anyway.

Insurance industry advocates have looked to the Florida Legislature for help. Three property insurance bills designed to ease skyrocketing premiums failed to pass during the recent legislative session. One bill would have allowed insurers to pay roof claims based on actual cash value vs. full replacement value. The other bills targeted the crushing demand for Citizen Property Insurance Corporation claims. And while a special legislative session will take place this month, the insurance crisis isn’t likely to be addressed.

When all is said and done, as insurers fight to stay in business, the rising costs of claims and litigation fall right into the laps of consumers. Homeowners pay soaring premiums, because they don’t have a choice.

Demotech, which evaluates the financial stability of insurers, said it well in its March 23 letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis: “The conditions of the property insurance marketplace in Florida are unsustainable, and without the necessary corrective action, many Florida insurers will struggle to maintain adequate surplus, efficient capital sources will avoid the market, private reinsurance costs will become prohibitively expensive, and consumers will ultimately bear the cost.”

On homesteaded property with fixed rate mortgages, property insurance is the only item that can drastically change a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment. As insurance companies continue to go under or stop doing business here, the situation will only get worse.

Homeowners will continue to face exorbitant premiums, increases to annual premiums or even be priced out of their own homes. For most property owners, their home is the single largest asset they own. To help fix the insurance industry in South Florida, legislators need to focus more attention on how this will continue to negatively impact the homeowner and how they can better protect their constituents.

Whitney Dutton, owner of The Dutton Group@Re/Max First, a full-service residential real estate group, is the No. 1 Realtor in Fort Lauderdale, based on total transactions closed. For more information, call 954-440-2333 or email Sales@Whitn eyDutton.com.

Don’t let DeSantis suppress the Black vote in Florida

Legislative leaders appear to be struggling to do what’s morally right and fulfill their constitutional obligation to the people of Florida. The governor’s veto and submission of his own congressional map was another attempt to suppress the Black vote. He’s attempting to personally choose the districts that will represent the people in Congress for the next decade.

This strategy has been used before to strip the Black community of their votes. Last month, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker struck down SB 90 while rebuking lawmakers: “For the past 20 years, the majority in the Florida Legislature has attacked the voting rights of its Black constituents. They have done so not as, in the words of Dr. King, ‘vicious racists, with [the] governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification,’ but as part of a cynical effort to suppress turnout among their opponents’ supporters.”

As one of two Black women in the Senate, I am reminded that the 18th Amendment in 1868 gave Black people the right to vote. We’ve fought to keep that right ever since. Historically, our voting rights have been diluted by poll taxes, literacy tests and ID requirements. I ask my colleagues to do what’s right and ensure that all people in Florida have an opportunity to have fair representation in Congress.

Fort Lauderdale The writer is a member of the Florida Senate.

A world of trouble

America is in a world of trouble. Ben Franklin’s words should be reverberating in everyone’s head, reminding all that the Founders gave us a republic, “if you can keep it.” The founders were justly worried about the ignorance of the people, because they knew that an undereducated, unwitting populace would not be up to the task. That’s precisely where we are today.

Trump’s longstanding goal is to

“dismantle the administrative state,” meaning democracy itself, and unwitting Republican voters are complicit in this nefarious attack as they encourage members of Congress to take American democracy down regardless of the cost to the world and to future generations. Example: Sen. Mitch McConnell said a new Supreme Court nominee by Biden will not get a hearing if Republicans take back the Senate this year. That reeks of malfeasance or worse and McConnell should be held accountable.

Any Republican has had plenty of time to jump ship. Democrats and Independents could save us, but Democrats must stop criticizing themselves publicly and instead loudly advertise that if you want money in your pocket and quality legislation you will vote Democrat as if our very democracy depends on it, which it clearly does. If we don’t vote Democrat in the midterms, you can kiss democracy and our beloved freedom goodbye.

Havana, Fla.

A retro agenda

Thanks for your news story on DeSantis and his view of a “cold war” if Stacey Abrams wins the governor’s office in Georgia. The part I found funniest was DeSantis saying Abrams would bring “more heavy-handed government.” How quickly he has forgotten the government’s intrusion into what a first-grade teacher can say in class with the vague definition of “age inappropriate.”

Were there lynchings in the South in the 20th century? Yes, but you can’t talk about it. Internment camps for Japanese U.S. citizens in the 1940’s? Don’t talk about it. Segregated buses and water fountains? Don’t talk about it. What’s next — no Holocaust?

I’m thoroughly disgusted with the GOP, their retro agenda and their laughable tenets about less government. I would love to see the pendulum swing back toward the middle where both parties put country over party, but, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Stuart