Citizens Property Insurance Loss of Use: What Florida Citizens Publishes, and a Trailer on Your Own Lot

When a covered loss makes a house unlivable, the part of a homeowners policy that pays for somewhere else to live goes by different names at different carriers, and the time and dollar limits sit in different places. This page is the Citizens Property Insurance version: what the coverage is called, what the published wording says about how long and how much, and how a furnished travel trailer on your own property becomes the housing that coverage pays for. 1st Choice Living has placed trailers on homeowners’ own lots, nationwide, since 2004, and bills the carrier directly where the claim covers it.

Citizens Property Insurance loss of use at a glance

Every carrier side by side: loss of use coverage by insurance carrier.

Why this page quotes only Citizens Property Insurance’s website

Citizens does not post its homeowners policy form on the public side of citizensfla.com. Its October 1, 2026 bulletin on Personal Lines form changes says the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved updated policy forms, effective for new and renewal business as of December 1, 2026, and points agents to the 12-26 editions and the Agents site. So this page quotes only Citizens' public pages and its coverage brochure, and it says less than our pages for carriers whose forms are public. Citizens' brochure itself says that if it and your policy differ, the terms of the insurance policy control. Your policy booklet and declarations page are the words that govern your claim; ask your agent for them.

What Citizens Property Insurance says on its own website

“Covers incurred additional living expenses if you are temporarily unable to live in your home following a covered loss”

“Covers incurred additional living expenses and/or fair rental value if you are temporarily unable to live in your home following a covered loss.”

“Some homeowners policies provide additional living expense (ALE) coverage, which helps pay for expenses incurred because your home has been deemed unlivable due to a covered loss. ALE provides coverage for the increase in costs over your normal expenses if a covered loss makes your home unlivable. This can include expenses for food, a place to live or other costs associated with maintaining your household.”

“Accurate receipt documentation is required. Make copies of these receipts for your records and provide the originals to your adjuster for review.”

“ALE coverage is limited and varies by policy type. Your adjuster can provide details about coverage. Check with your agent for more information about ALE coverage.”

“Our CRC staff can answer questions and help you report a catastrophe claim. They also can issue checks for additional living expenses (ALE), if this coverage is available under your policy.”

“Your Citizens homeowners policy does not cover damage from rising water (flood, wave wash, tidal surge, etc.). Only flood insurance covers the cost of flood damage and loss.”

A trailer on your own lot as your Additional Living Expense housing

Nothing quoted above names a hotel, an apartment, or a trailer. The wording pays the increase in cost to keep your household at its normal standard of living while the house is uninhabitable, up to the limits. A furnished travel trailer delivered, leveled, and connected on your own property is one way to do that, and it keeps you next to the rebuild, your kids in their school, and your pets at home. Whether it is approved on your claim is up to your Citizens adjuster. Here is how that approval usually comes together.

Citizens' pages say ALE coverage is limited and varies by policy type, that your adjuster can provide details about coverage, and that accurate receipt documentation is required, with the originals going to your adjuster for review. Ask the adjuster for the Coverage D limit on your declarations and any time limit in your policy, since Citizens does not publish either.

After a catastrophe, Citizens says staff at its Catastrophe Response Centers can issue checks for additional living expenses if the coverage is available under your policy. Before delivery, ask the adjuster whether the trailer can be billed to Citizens directly or must be paid and reimbursed, and put the trailer's written terms in front of them.

1. Open the claim and ask two questions. Does the claim include Additional Living Expense, and what are the limit in dollars and the time period on your declarations page? Ask your Citizens adjuster to confirm both in writing.
2. Say what housing you want. Tell your Citizens adjuster you want a furnished travel trailer on your own property as your temporary housing, and ask what they need from the provider to approve it.
3. Call us or send the request form. We ask for the property address, how many people and pets need a place to sleep, the claim number, and the adjuster’s contact. Before anything is delivered we confirm the local rule on a temporary RV at your address; if a trailer on your lot is not the right fit for the property, we will tell you.
4. We send the written terms to the adjuster. The unit, the monthly rate, delivery and setup, and utility connections, so the approved cost is clear before delivery.
5. Direct billing where the claim covers it. On a covered claim we bill Citizens Property Insurance directly under Additional Living Expense, tracked against your limit, with site conditions documented at setup and again at takedown. That is $0 out of pocket for your family on a covered claim, and one named contact from the first call to pickup.
6. Already with a temporary housing company? We work with any temporary housing company. Ask the company handling your housing to place you with 1st Choice Living for a trailer on your own lot, and the billing runs the way their program is set up.

The full walkthrough of a placement is on on-site RV housing. If Citizens Property Insurance pays you back rather than paying a provider, our guide to arranging your own temporary housing covers the questions to ask before you commit to anything.

Hurricane Isaias and a Citizens claim in Florida

If Hurricane Isaias made your home unlivable in the Florida Panhandle and your policy is with Citizens, two lines from Citizens matter from the first day: Catastrophe Response Center staff can issue checks for additional living expenses if your policy includes the coverage, and your Citizens homeowners policy does not cover damage from rising water, which only flood insurance covers. Our Hurricane Isaias page has the storm facts with official sources, how each state's insurance department explains Additional Living Expenses, Florida's temporary shelter law, and the local rule on an RV on your lot for every city and county we cover.

• Temporary housing after Hurricane Isaias
• Hurricane Isaias RV rules by county
• After a storm, after a house fire, and after a flood

Other carriers

Same questions, each carrier’s own words: State Farm, Allstate, USAA, Farmers, Erie, Liberty Mutual and Safeco, American Family, Travelers, Chubb, Nationwide, Auto-Owners, Progressive, Shelter, Amica. All fifteen side by side: loss of use coverage by insurance carrier.

Questions homeowners with Citizens Property Insurance claims ask