A second insurance provider is leaving the Florida market again.
Florida Market Dropped by the Insurance Provider
The Farmers Insurance, which provides around 100,000 homes, auto, and umbrella policies. Be prepared for another avalanche of policies to be sent to Citizens Insurance, the “insurer of last resort,” which is supported by the state and ultimately by the taxpayers of Florida. 13 businesses in the state have declared bankruptcy in recent years. Others have just ceased writing insurance in Florida, like Farmers. All of it contributes to premium price increases and a worsening of the state’s housing affordability crisis. Florida market might soon become a wealthy-only state, according to the news released by Yahoo! Finance.
This is a fundamental and ongoing example of Tallahassee’s poor leadership. Florida residents pay the highest national property insurance premiums. Legislators have often promised to address the issue. In a special session, the Legislature convened twice. Laws have been established to stifle litigation and other actions that authorities attribute to the growing situation. Former Republican state senator Jeff Brandes told the Orlando Sentinel that some of that legislation “treated the flu when the patient had Stage 4 cancer.” Brandes has long been a supporter of comprehensive insurance reform.
High Living Cost in Florida, Residents and Farmers are in Struggle
Our authorities are outraged about drag shows and transgender children in our state. That’s because Florida Governor Ron DeSantis believes he can win the White House on the back of cultural conflicts, putting his interests ahead of human suffering. In the meantime, unless you’re extremely affluent, Florida is becoming less and less viable as a place to live. That is a genuine issue, not a fabrication for political ends.
There is a genuine financial crunch. A stunning 9% inflation rate in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach region is largely due to housing expenditures. According to CNN, urban areas with more than 2.5 million residents, it has the highest rate in the country. It exceeds the 4% national average by more than two times. As if things couldn’t get much worse, there is also bad news for tenants.
A statute that DeSantis signed into law last month nullifies local agreements that define renters’ rights, including one in Miami-Dade County. Even as renters’ rights organizations lobbied for tougher safeguards against rising rents, he signed the law. The new law will make it considerably harder for municipal governments to find solutions to the housing crisis in their areas.
This year, the Florida Legislature did adopt a bill on affordable housing, and we believe it would be helpful. Under the new bill’s incentives, the town of Davie in Broward County, for instance, would think about including 75 prefabricated houses in a development. That gives me some hope.