Adding nearly 22,000 policies last month, the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. totaled more than 708,000 policies as of Sept. 30, newly released numbers show.

Citizens has seen massive growth since the middle of 2020 as private insurers have sought rate increases and dropped customers to reduce financial risks.

As of Sept. 30, Citizens totaled 708,919 policies, up from 687,079 on Aug. 31. Citizens had gained nearly 200,000 policies since Sept. 30, 2020, when it totaled 511,055 policies.

Citizens President and CEO Barry Gilway said recently that an initial forecast for next year includes 1 million to 1.3 million policies.

Many state leaders have long sought to move policies from Citizens to the private market because of concerns about financial risks for the state if a major hurricane would hit.

Citizens officials are scheduled to make a presentation about the insurance market Wednesday to the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee and take part in a presentation next week to the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.