After reaching 1 million in early August, Citizens Policy count continues to climb

TALLAHASSEE -- The state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s number of policies has continued to climb after reaching 1 million early this month.

Citizens had 1,013,147 policies as of the end of last week, up from 1,000,624 on Aug. 5, according to the insurer's website.

Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has been flooded with policies during the past two years as private insurers have shed customers and raised rates because of financial problems.

Also, five private insurers have been declared insolvent since February, which has led to homeowners turning to Citizens for coverage.

As illustrations of the growth, Citizens had 499,056 policies on Aug. 31, 2020, and 687,079 policies on Aug. 31, 2021, according to data posted on its website.