Florida's Homeowners Insurance Crisis: What Congress Must Do for FL-16 Families

Ask any family in Bradenton, Riverview, Lakewood Ranch, or Sun City Center what their biggest financial concern is right now, and somewhere in the first three answers — often the first — you will hear some version of: homeowners insurance. The policy that cost $2,200 per year in 2020 now costs $4,800. The policy that covered the family for 15 years was non-renewed without warning and replaced by a Citizens Property Insurance policy at 40% higher premium. The retirement budget that worked perfectly on paper when it was built three years ago has been disrupted by insurance increases that nobody projected and that no one can stop.

Florida's homeowners insurance crisis is not a talking point or a campaign issue manufactured for political effect. It is a documented, ongoing market failure that is making homeownership increasingly unaffordable in a state where homeownership has been a cornerstone of middle-class life for generations. It is displacing retirees from homes they own outright. It is pricing first-time buyers out of the market. It is threatening the property values that underpin the entire FL-16 community economy.

And it is an issue where Congress — not just Tallahassee — has meaningful tools to help. Let me be specific about both the problem and the tools.

Why Florida's Insurance Market Is in Crisis

The Florida homeowners insurance market has been deteriorating for years due to a confluence of factors that compound each other. Understanding them clearly is the prerequisite for understanding what can be fixed and how.

Hurricane losses. Florida has experienced a historically active and destructive hurricane sequence in recent years. Hurricane Ian (2022) produced over $60 billion in insured losses — one of the costliest single storm events in American history. Hurricanes Idalia (2023), Helene (2024), and Milton (2024) added tens of billions more. Each major loss event depletes insurer reserves, triggers reinsurance recoveries, and results in higher reinsurance costs in subsequent years. The global reinsurance market — the market through which Florida's primary insurers purchase their own risk protection — has responded to these losses by dramatically increasing rates, which flow directly through to the retail insurance premium that FL-16 homeowners pay.

Reinsurance costs. Most Florida homeowners insurance companies are relatively small, regional carriers that purchase reinsurance from global markets — Lloyd's of London, Bermuda-based reinsurers, and large international insurance groups. When global reinsurance capacity tightens and rates rise after major loss events, Florida's primary insurers face dramatically higher input costs that must be reflected in the premiums they charge or absorbed through reduced capacity. Florida experienced both outcomes: premium increases and carrier exits.

Litigation abuse. For years, Florida's insurance litigation environment was structured in ways that incentivized inflated and fraudulent claims — particularly roof damage claims driven by a cottage industry of contractors and attorneys working assignment-of-benefits arrangements. Florida's legislature has made significant reforms to this system in 2022 and 2023, but the legacy losses from the pre-reform period continue to affect market pricing.

Insurance company exits. Major national carriers including Farmers Insurance, several regional carriers, and numerous smaller Florida-specific insurers have either exited the state or dramatically reduced their exposure. When private market competitors leave, the remaining carriers face less competitive pressure to keep rates down — and Citizens Property Insurance, the state's insurer of last resort, becomes the default option for an increasing share of the market.

Citizens Property Insurance: What FL-16 Homeowners Need to Know

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was created by the Florida Legislature to provide coverage to homeowners who cannot obtain insurance in the private market. It is not a federal program — it is a Florida state-chartered entity — but understanding it is essential for FL-16 homeowners navigating the current market.

Citizens now covers over 1.2 million Florida policies, a dramatic increase from the 400,000 policies it carried before the current market disruption. Its mandate is to provide coverage as a last resort, not to compete with private insurers — which means its rates are not always the cheapest option even though the private market has largely abandoned the field.

The critical federal dimension of Citizens is this: Citizens does not have the unlimited backstop of the federal government. Its reserve capacity is limited, and if a catastrophic hurricane season depletes its reserves, Citizens has the authority to levy emergency assessments on all Florida insurance policyholders — not just Citizens customers — to cover its losses. This mechanism makes the financial health of Citizens a statewide concern, and the adequacy of federal disaster relief funding directly affects how much of the hurricane recovery burden falls on Florida's insurance system versus federal programs.

Flood Insurance: The Federal Program FL-16 Coastal Homeowners Depend On

Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flooding — the storm surge, rising water, and precipitation-driven inundation that causes the majority of hurricane damage in Florida. Flood insurance is a separate policy, and for the vast majority of Florida coastal and near-coastal homeowners, the only available source is the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by FEMA.

The NFIP covers properties in communities that meet federal floodplain management standards. It is the primary flood coverage option for homeowners in Manatee County's coastal communities — Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach, Anna Maria Island, and the waterfront neighborhoods of Palmetto and Bradenton — as well as for properties near the Manatee River, the Alafia River, and the tidal wetlands throughout the district. Homeowners with federally backed mortgages in FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Areas are required by law to carry NFIP flood coverage.

The NFIP has been chronically underfunded relative to its losses, carrying over $20 billion in debt to the U.S. Treasury accumulated after major storm seasons. Congress has repeatedly extended the NFIP under short-term continuing resolutions rather than enacting a long-term reauthorization — creating uncertainty for lenders, homeowners, and the real estate market. The NFIP's Risk Rating 2.0 pricing methodology, implemented in 2021, has produced significant premium increases for many Florida coastal property owners as rates shift toward actuarial soundness.

I will fight for a long-term NFIP reauthorization that achieves financial sustainability without producing the kind of premium shock that makes flood insurance effectively unaffordable for middle-income Florida coastal homeowners. The goal must be a program that can pay its claims without ongoing Treasury bailouts — while preserving the coverage access that communities like Anna Maria Island have no viable alternative to.

The Federal Role: What Congress Can Actually Do

Florida's insurance crisis is primarily a state policy issue — insurance regulation is a state function, and the Florida Legislature and Office of Insurance Regulation are the primary authorities responsible for market structure. But Congress has several meaningful levers:

Federal catastrophe reinsurance. The most discussed federal intervention in the insurance crisis debate is the creation of a federal backstop for catastrophic hurricane losses — a program that would provide reinsurance to state-level reinsurance pools (like Florida's Citizens and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund) at rates that help stabilize the market without crowding out private capital. Multiple versions of this proposal have been introduced in Congress over the years. Done well, federal cat reinsurance could reduce the volatility that drives private insurers out of the market and moderate the reinsurance cost spikes that flow through to consumer premiums.

NFIP long-term reauthorization. Ending the cycle of short-term NFIP extensions and enacting a long-term reauthorization that provides market stability, preserves coverage access, and puts the program on a financially sustainable path is a direct congressional responsibility. I will make this a priority.

Resilience investment. Federal disaster mitigation funding — through programs like FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program — provides funding to help communities and individual homeowners make structural improvements that reduce hurricane vulnerability. A homeowner who hardens their roof, installs storm shutters, and elevates their electrical systems is a better insurance risk — and federal mitigation funding can help make those improvements financially accessible. FEMA reform and resilience investment are complementary to insurance market stabilization.

Building code standards. Federal building codes for federally funded and insured structures set a floor that influences state and local standards. Stronger building codes produce more resilient structures that produce fewer and smaller insurance claims — reducing the loss ratio that drives premium increases. Congress can incentivize higher building code standards through federal program requirements tied to disaster funding eligibility.

What John Peters Will Fight For

The families of Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, Riverview, Sun City Center, and every other community in FL-16 deserve a representative who treats the homeowners insurance crisis as the genuine emergency it is — not as a talking point to deploy at election time and ignore until the next campaign.

I will push for federal catastrophe reinsurance legislation that stabilizes the Florida market and reduces the premium volatility that is pricing families out of homeownership. I will work for long-term NFIP reauthorization that preserves flood coverage access for coastal FL-16 communities. I will support resilience investment that makes FL-16 homes more storm-resistant and better insurance risks. And I will make sure the Florida delegation is functioning as a unified advocate for these priorities — because an issue that affects 1.2 million Citizens policyholders and millions more private market policyholders across the state demands a coordinated response.

The broader cost of living crisis in FL-16 is worsened significantly by insurance premiums that have doubled and tripled. The Gulf Coast communities of this district cannot sustain their character and their property values if homeownership becomes uninsurable at any reasonable cost. This is an issue I will work on every day in Congress — not just when a camera is present.