Citizens Property Insurance

United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. will exit Florida’s troubled homeowners’ insurance market, forcing customers to find new coverage as their policies come up for renewal, the insurer’s parent company announced Thursday.

The state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has surpassed 1 million policies for the first time since 2014. Citizens has been absorbing an influx of policies as private insurers drop customers and push for large rate increases.

A day after getting hit with a financial-rating downgrade, on Tuesday United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. became the first Florida property insurer to take part in a stopgap state program aimed at maintaining coverage for homeowners.

Florida regulators have announced a stopgap plan to try to make sure homeowners can maintain property insurance coverage. The plan involves the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. acting as a financial backstop.

The state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. ended May with 883,333 policies. That's a nearly 45 percent increase from a year earlier.

As private insurers continue to drop customers and pass along rate hikes, the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has topped 850,000 policies, according to newly released numbers.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican who has argued for taking aggressive action to deal with Florida’s property-insurance problems, intends to pursue polling lawmakers about holding a special legislative session if House and Senate leaders don’t call a session on the insurance issue.

Roofing claims, property insurance, and Russian disinvestment: On Tuesday, for the first time in more than six months, the Florida Cabinet actually met in Tallahassee to tackle business on a variety of fronts.

In the last two decades, efforts have been made to shrink Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, which is backed by Florida taxpayers. However, Citizens is growing rapidly again as lawsuits drive up premiums in the private insurance market.

A federal judge has blocked the state from enforcing a key part of a new property insurance law designed to combat fraud. It prohibits roofing contractors from advertising to potential customers.