[Flyers999]

Some TOTVers feel this topic has been discussed here too often, but I thank the OP for once again “bringing it to the table,” because it’s not going away. This is a Florida problem. According to the last 2020 census 97.1% of Floridians live “on the coastline.” Having different rates for different localities isn’t going to save us. We are in this together. We need billions of dollars to repair the damage done by last season’s hurricanes, not to mention hurricanes in the future. How many billions? Some articles say $109 billion, some $40 billion, but whatever it is, it is so high that the government has to get involved. I know Florida experienced an 11-year hurricane drought back in the 1994-2005, but apparently, we can’t depend on that happening again, anytime soon.

Here my solution, which we already have in place, sort of:

Insurance company’s homeowners' insurance no longer will cover wind or flood damage. Your homeowner's insurance will cover everything else, i.e., fire, liability, theft, etc. This would cut your insurance bill by a lot, say from $3,000 per year to $1,200 per year. The government would cover the wind/flood damage. They already have a fund for covering residential units that ins. companies won’t insure; it’s called Citizens Property Insurance which is a nonprofit company run by the Florida state government. Citizens is an "insurer of last resort." It only insures properties that private companies won't cover or won't provide affordable insurance for.

Citizens Property Insurance will be funded by an increase in your property taxes, which would increase by 1% of your home’s value.

Here’s the formula. There are 7,302,947 residential housing units in Florida. The average cost of a house in Florida is $377,000. Multiply 377k x 0.01 x 7,302,947 = $27.5 billion.

Of course, there could be some allowances made for the poor like disqualify those whose homes are worth less than $100k. So, they would get this insurance for free, but not entirely.

Not done yet, we will still need to adjust the claims, which should be your insurance company (I believe this is how Citizens Property Insurance does it, or do they hire their own adjusters?) . You would have to buy “regular” homeowners insure from a legitimate insurance company which must cover the basics like fire, theft, liability, etc. Then you would automatically be covered by Citizens Property Insurance for the wind/flood.

Don't like it? Well, what's your alternative? And not "the ins. companies and the government should get together and work something out." We want details.