'They have to do something': How premium hikes are impacting homeowners

LANTANA, Fla. — The term "homeowners insurance" has become a bit of a jumpscare for homeowners WPTV's Joel Lopez spoke with on Friday.

They said for years they've felt the impact of premium hikes and are paying attention to the changes coming to Citizens Insurance rates.

WATCH: Homeowners are keeping an eye on rate hikes

"The increase of the coverage of the houses, many people cannot afford it," said Julio Jimenez. "Especially these days, meals are expensive, gas is expensive, everything is expensive."

He's a local artist that lives in Lantana and said he was paying $5,500 annually for Citizens insurance.

He decided to switch as the fees got expensive and they were asking him to cut back a tree outside his house that he's using for an art project, which includes some 2,000 Italian crystals.

"They were requiring I cut my trees 6 feet away, 7 feet away from the house. I'd have to remove everything away from my house. I don't like that," said Jimenez. "I can't cut the beauty in my house."

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He said he found an insurance company, Sebanda, that accepted his tree.

Now he's paying $1,000 less annually after making repairs and replacing his impact windows and doors, as well as roof insulation and other improvements.

Jimenez said the repairs were expensive, but the efficiency and safety of the improvements pay themselves off.

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According to Citizens, from January to November 2024, Citizens Depopulation Program transferred 428,000 Citizens policies to private insurance companies.

As of Jan. 21, there were 941,158 active Citizens policies.

"It's way too much, you have your property tax increasing; you have your insurance increasing, so everything is increasing, you cannot afford to put food on the table," said Louis Ductan.

He said he couldn't afford his $6,000 Citizens premium and decided to drop homeowners insurance coverage all together.

"We got to save the money cause it's getting too tough," said Ductan.

He's monitoring the changes coming to Citizens Insurance and hopes for rate decreases across the board.

"It's way too much, they have to do something," said Ductan.

Matt Sczesny is determined every day to help you find solutions in Florida's coverage collapse. If you have a question or comment on homeowners insurance, you can reach out to him any time.

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