Patricia got a letter in the mail last spring. It was from Citizens Property Insurance, the company that had been covering her Clearwater home for six years. The letter said her policy was being assumed by a private carrier she had never heard of. She had 30 days to accept the transfer or find her own coverage. Her premium was going up $600 a year.
She called confused and a little angry. She had not asked to leave Citizens. She did not know she could be forced off. And she had not planned for a $600 rate increase.
What happened to Patricia is called depopulation. It has been reshaping Florida's insurance market for the past two years.
What Is Citizens Property Insurance?
Citizens is Florida's insurer of last resort. It was created by the state legislature to ensure that Florida homeowners who cannot find private market coverage are not left without insurance. For years Citizens served a relatively small number of homeowners who had been dropped by private carriers or lived in areas where private insurers would not write policies.
Then Florida's insurance market collapsed. Carriers left the state. Others went insolvent. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners flooded into Citizens. At its peak Citizens held over 1.4 million policies. Florida taxpayers were exposed to an enormous amount of concentrated risk.
Florida's legislature and the Citizens board have been aggressively pushing policyholders back into the private market ever since through a process called depopulation.
What Is Depopulation and Can It Happen to You?
Depopulation is the formal process by which Citizens reduces its policy count by transferring policyholders to approved private carriers. Here is how it works: private carriers review Citizens policy data and select homes they are willing to insure. If your home is selected and the private carrier's offer is within 20% of your current Citizens premium, Citizens can require you to accept the transfer. You can opt out only if the private offer exceeds your current premium by more than 20%.
This has caught many Florida homeowners completely off guard.
Why Would You Want to Leave Citizens Voluntarily?
Citizens has real limitations that private market policies do not share. Citizens coverage limits are capped in ways that may leave you underinsured. Their replacement cost coverage works differently than many private policies. Their claims process has historically moved more slowly than private carriers.
Most significantly, if a major hurricane hits Florida and Citizens does not have sufficient reserves to pay all claims, they can assess all Florida insurance policyholders — including those not insured by Citizens — a surcharge to make up the difference. Every Florida homeowner carries some exposure to that risk as long as Citizens remains oversized.
Peak Citizens policy count — Florida's legislature has been aggressively reducing this through depopulation since 2023.
How to Actually Get Off Citizens
Start by getting quotes from private carriers. Many Citizens policyholders assume private coverage is not available because it was not available when they last looked. The private market in Florida has genuinely improved in 2026. Several new carriers have entered the state. Existing carriers have become more competitive. Reinsurance costs have stabilized.
The factors that most affect your ability to get private coverage are roof age and condition, the age and construction of your home, your distance from the coast, and your claims history. If your roof is less than 15 years old and you have a clean or minimal claims history, you have a reasonable chance at private coverage in today's market.
Work with an independent agent who has access to multiple carriers rather than a captive agent who represents only one company. An independent agent can submit your information to multiple carriers simultaneously and present you with the best available options.
What If You Cannot Get Private Coverage?
If private market carriers will not write your policy, Citizens remains legitimate coverage and you should keep it. The goal is not to leave Citizens at any cost but to make sure you have adequate coverage for your situation.
If you stay with Citizens, verify that your dwelling coverage limit reflects what it would actually cost to rebuild your home today. Building costs in Florida have increased significantly since 2020 and many Citizens policyholders are underinsured relative to current construction costs.