Florida's Latest News

Citizens Property Insurance is seeing a decrease in policy count. Why experts say this is a ‘huge step toward stability’

Property insurance experts say Florida homeowners have reason to be hopeful about future insurance costs.

New data from Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed insurer, shows a decrease in policy counts, reducing the company’s risk during natural disasters.

“The healthier they are, the healthier we all are,” said Matt Carlucci Jr., owner of Brightway Insurance.

Carlucci believes that Florida’s private insurance companies stand to benefit most from Citizens’ successful depopulation program.

As of Friday, Citizens had 1,035,534 policies. In 2024 alone, over 1.3 million policies were approved to shift from Citizens to private insurers, though not all have yet moved.

Carlucci, with nearly 20 years of industry experience, said he sees Citizens’ efforts to downsize as a positive step, creating less risk for the company and more stability statewide.

Palm Beach County to spend millions to help people with addiction

More than $120 million from pharmaceutical companies and distributors is pouring into Palm Beach County coffers.

After months of deliberation, the county now has a 15-year plan for spending it.

The money is from legal settlements to compensate governments across the nation for costs of the opioid epidemic. The aim is to help people with substance abuse disorder return to substance-free lives. It will be reviewed annually.

It means helping them find a safe place to live; overcome seemingly innocuous obstacles, such as obtaining a driver’s license; and get a job.

Here’s the county’s plan on spending $7.7 million a year for the next 15 years:

• Community education and training: $3 million. Focused on family support, community engagement, drug disposal, public awareness and screening.

State university system leaders OK plan tied to FIU Pitbull stadium

State university-system leaders on Wednesday approved a bond refinancing plan tied to Miami rapper Pitbull’s name going on a football stadium.

The approval came several years after a contract Pitbull had with the state helped cost the job of a state tourism-marketing official.

The university system’s Board of Governors agreed to a Florida International University refinancing plan that is part of a $6 million deal to rename the school’s 20,000-seat football stadium as Pitbull Stadium.

In August, the FIU Board of Trustees approved the five-year deal, which will pay the school $1.2 million annually. But the deal resulted in the school exceeding IRS limitations for “private use” activities in connection with the stadium’s tax-exempt bonds.

To address the IRS issue, the school is looking to refinance a series of Miami-Dade County Industrial Development Authority revenue bonds totaling $13.4 million that were issued for improvements at the stadium. The school anticipates the refinancing will result in a benefit to FIU of $3.98 million, according to information provided to the Board of Governors.

Florida condo crisis: Experts tell of owners’ fears as costs keep mounting

A Broward County panel on Wednesday warned that senior citizens in particular are struggling with mounting condo assessments — and the problem could grow as costs rise and owners cannot sell their homes.

Those who own condos are facing the prospect of more financial assessments: There’s a Jan. 1 state deadline to have buildings inspected and shape plans to fund any repairs. The new regulations were put into place following the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium, which killed 98 people in Surfside in 2021.

“Every owner is concerned about what’s going on right now,” said panelist Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney with Becker & Poliakoff, a firm that is well-known to represent condos.

The condominium-related concerns were raised by a panel of speakers Wednesday during the Broward Housing Council’s “2024 Affordable Housing Workshop: Condo Reform,” presented at the Anne Kolb Nature Center in Hollywood.