Hundreds of homeowners recently held a protest at their Florida 55+ living community called Century Village in response to the latest increase to their monthly home insurance fees.
According to the seniors living in the community, many are being forced to sell because of this added cost.
The Pembroke Pines, Florida community has been watching their monthly housing fees steadily climb due to the exploding home insurance costs as the state fights a crisis in its property coverage industry. A number of insurers have already left the state, while others have found themselves in receivership. Citizens Insurance, the state insurer of last resort, has become bloated with policies to a record-breaking extent and is seeking ways to offload many of them.
In this particular case, the Century Village homeowners were sent an email, notifying them that their fees would be climbing by $100 to $200 per month as a result of the “skyrocketing insurance premiums”. The message also indicated that some units would require special assessment.
The residents gathered together to protest the home insurance hikes in front of local media cameras.
The residents who gathered were shouting and visibly upset. In fact, it reached the point that it escalated to a level at which the police were called. Residents told reporters that some would be forced to sell their homes.
“So now we are over $700 a month that we are paying just in HOA fees, and they’re going to kick it up to $1,000 a month,” said one resident to a reporter at the scene who was quoted by Yahoo News. “We have no choice. We have to sell. As a matter of fact, I just put my house on the market 10 minutes ago.”
Florida’s housing market has already been hitting high prices and mortgage rates have more than doubled in the state, shrinking affordability. Now, home insurance is only adding to that pressure and making it even less affordable for people to live in the state. Residents are currently paying the highest property premiums in the country.
