Florida Just Lost a Million Citizens Policies. If Your Roof Is 15, You're Inside the Next Decision Cycle.

If you own a home in Florida and your roof is approaching fifteen years old, the next eighteen months are the most important window for your insurance position. The market is in the middle of a structural reset, and the rules that have been written into the system over the last three years are now starting to matter for the policy on your house.

Here is what changed, what the numbers actually show, and what to do about it before your next renewal.

Citizens shrank by a million policies

Citizens Property Insurance is the state-backed insurer of last resort. At its peak in October 2023, Citizens held about 1.42 million policies. By the end of 2025, it expected to be down to roughly 385,000 — a 73% drop from the peak and its lowest level ever. More than 546,000 policies were transferred to private insurers through the depopulation program in 2025 alone.

That's the largest single migration in the program's history. The mechanic is that the state created enough incentives, and the private market produced enough new entrants, that policies in Citizens can be offered to private carriers under specific terms. If a private carrier offers comparable coverage at a premium within 20% of Citizens, the policyholder is generally required to accept the private offer.

Since the 2022–2023 litigation reforms, around 17 new insurance companies have entered the Florida market, a sharp rebound from the 2022 low when major national carriers were exiting or restricting writing, and Citizens is no longer the state's largest property insurer. For 2026, Citizens filed its first overall rate decrease in roughly a decade — with the largest cuts in South Florida, where some policyholders could see reductions above 11%.

The market is functioning more like a market than it did three years ago. What it is not is uniform.

The 15-year roof rule that almost is, and almost isn't

Florida law prohibits insurers from refusing to issue or renew a policy solely based on roof age if the roof is less than 15 years old. That is the floor written into statute. Above 15 years, the carriers have wide latitude.

In practice, the 15-year mark is the operational threshold. Most carriers will not write a new policy on a roof older than 15 years without a current inspection. For renewals, the typical pattern is that carriers begin requiring annual inspections at 15 years, then move toward non-renewal in the 18-to-20-year window if the roof has not been replaced.

A few carriers have started flagging roofs earlier. Twelve-year-old asphalt shingles have shown up in non-renewal notices in counties with the highest catastrophe exposure. That's not statute, that's underwriting discretion above the statutory floor.

The implication is that the relevant calendar is not "when does my roof actually fail." It is "when does the carrier start asking about it." For most asphalt-shingle roofs in Florida, those two dates differ by five to seven years.

What to do if you're inside the depopulation cycle

If you received a notice that your policy is being transferred from Citizens to a private carrier, three things matter.

Read the offer carefully. The premium may be within 20% of Citizens, but the deductibles, coverage limits, and exclusions can differ materially. Hurricane deductibles in particular range from 2% to 10% of dwelling value across Florida private carriers. A house with a $400,000 dwelling limit at a 5% hurricane deductible has a $20,000 out-of-pocket exposure before the policy pays anything.

Check the carrier's rating. Many of the new Florida carriers carry Demotech ratings rather than A.M. Best ratings. That is acceptable to most Florida lenders but worth verifying with your mortgage servicer before the policy effective date.

Document your mitigation features. The Wind Mitigation Inspection (Florida form OIR-B1-1802) is the single most valuable document you can have at quote time. A current inspection documenting roof-to-wall connections, opening protection, roof deck attachment, and roof shape can produce 30% to 70% reductions on the wind portion of the premium. The inspection costs $100 to $200. Most homeowners do not have a current one on file.

The My Safe Florida Home grant is the lever you control

The My Safe Florida Home program offers up to $10,000 in matching grants for approved wind-mitigation retrofits on single-family homes. The categories that pencil best in coastal counties are roof-to-wall reinforcement, opening protection (impact-rated windows and doors or approved shutters), and roof deck attachment improvements.

The program has had multiple funding cycles since its 2022 expansion. Each cycle has been oversubscribed, with available funding committed quickly after each opening. If you are inside an eligible county and your roof or openings need work that would qualify, the application timing matters as much as the underlying project economics.

The grant stacks with the wind-mitigation premium discounts. A roof-to-wall reinforcement project that costs $4,000 might receive a $2,000 grant match, then produce a $400-to-$800 annual premium reduction over the policy's life. The payback is measured in years, not decades.

What didn't change

A few things many Florida homeowners assume changed actually did not.

Hurricane deductibles still apply by storm, not by year. A 5% deductible on a $400,000 dwelling resets for each named storm event. Three hurricanes in a single year could produce three separate deductible obligations.

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund still backstops the system. The fund's reinsurance backstop affects carrier pricing across the market, and its capacity is a function of state budget decisions made annually.

Sinkhole coverage remains separate. Sinkhole peril is excluded from most standard policies and requires a rider. The premium for sinkhole coverage varies significantly by county.

What you should do this month

Three steps that produce real movement on your policy position.

Pull your roof's exact install year and material. If you cannot find the records, the county permit database is usually the fastest path. The carrier will ask. You want the answer ready.

Order a current wind mitigation inspection. $100 to $200 today is the cheapest documentation you can produce, and it is the single largest discount lever available on your premium.

Check whether the My Safe Florida Home application cycle is open in your county. The program's eligibility map shows current funding status. If the cycle is open and your home qualifies for a retrofit category, the application timing is the first decision.

Why we built Home Index around the underwriting variables

Most homeowners cannot tell you the install year of their roof inside five years. Most do not have a current wind mitigation inspection on file. When the next renewal cycle starts, the documentation gap is the cost.

Home Index tracks the roof, opening protection, foundation type, and mitigation features inside the Home Health record. The variables that drive the carrier's underwriting decision are the same variables that drive resale value and lender requirements. Recording them once eliminates the question every other time it comes up.

The Florida market is moving in the homeowner's favor for the first time in three years. The homeowners who capture that movement are the ones with documentation ready when the quote process starts.

Post your project on Home Index and get bids from verified local contractors, including roofers and opening-protection specialists who can document the mitigation features your carrier rewards.