Citizens moves closer to 1.1M policies

The state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. had more than 1.08 million policies as of Friday, as it added nearly 10,000 policies in a week, according to data posted on its website. Citizens had 1,081,416 policies, up from 1,071,850 a week earlier.

Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has seen massive growth during the past two years as private insurers have dropped policies, and in some cases gone insolvent, amid financial losses. As a comparison, it had 521,289 policies as of Oct. 31, 2020. Citizens also is grappling with claims from Hurricane Ian, which slammed into Southwest Florida on Sept. 28 and crossed the state. Citizens last week estimated it would have $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion in losses from the storm.