TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida state lawmakers will meet in a special session in mid-January to try to tackle a property insurance crisis caused by the devastating hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005.In a widely expected session that will start on January 16, legislators said Wednesday they will consider proposals to shore up the insurance industry to prevent companies from dropping windstorm policies. They also will try to avert some of the dramatic rate increases Florida homeowners have seen due to hurricanes.

Homeowners have demanded that state policy makers figure out some way to stop the rate increases, which have been in the triple-digit percentages in some cases. The special session will take place less than two months before the start of the regular legislative session.

A special panel appointed by outgoing Gov. Jeb Bush recently made several recommendations for potential legislation. One of the proposals is to make it easier for insurance companies to get reinsurance through the state’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

That backup coverage — which pays insurers when they are hit with large losses — is cheaper than private reinsurance, which also has skyrocketed in cost in recent years. Insurance companies complain that the cost of reinsurance is one of the big reasons Floridians have seen their policies jump in price.

Legislators took a shot at the insurance problem earlier this year, passing a bill in the final hours of the regular legislative session in May that was aimed at strengthening the marketplace.

But it was primarily aimed at preventing companies from fleeing the state or dropping policies. Many in the industry said that insurance has been historically underpriced in Florida and that is why when eight hurricanes hit the state in the previous two years, companies lost money. Many responded by saying they would stop writing policies here.

The bill lawmakers passed and Gov. Bush signed aimed in part to make it easier for some companies to raise rates when there is competition. In many parts of the state, however, there is no competition.

In much of the state, homeowners’ only option is to get insurance from state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corp., an insurer of last resort which has seen its rates spiral up in recent years too.

Lawmakers did do one thing in the spring to ease the rate crisis: they funnelled more than $700 million in extra tax money into Citizens to avoid a budget shortfall. That greatly decreased the size of a required surcharge that all Florida homeowners pay when Citizens comes up short.

Still, underlying rates have continued to go up. Allstate Floridian Insurance, a subsidiary of Allstate Corp., the state’s third largest home insurer, is asking state regulators for an increase that will average 26 percent, saying its reinsurance rates have gone up 200 percent. The company, which has already cut nearly 100,000 policies in the state, said if it can’t raise rates to pay for reinsurance, it won’t be able to keep doing business in Florida.

State Farm, which insures about one in five Floridians, won approval in July for a rate hike that will be more than 50 percent on average statewide.

State officials have heard numerous stories from residents who have seen annual insurance premiums more than double. Some residents have said they can’t continue to afford living in their homes — and they can’t go without insurance because mortgage lenders require it. It’s also cut into what was a hot housing market — with some potential buyers finding they can’t afford a new house because of the cost of insurance.

“They start making the phone calls and realise that for a $200,000 house, you’re going to pay $2,400 to $2,600 for insurance,” said Sherri Hudson, a home mortgage consultant with Wells Fargo in the Cocoa Beach area. Hudson said she recently saw the insurance on a rental property she owns go from $2,400 a year to $5,400.