The one-year moratorium is a stopgap measure to assist homeowners affected by recent wildfires as the state assesses ways of addressing the root causes of increasingly damaging natural disasters.

In an effort to help homeowners affected by recent wildfires, writes Dale Kasler, California has imposed a one-year ban on insurance companies dropping homeowners in recent fire zones from their insurance policies. The moratorium, which includes areas affected by the Dixie, Caldor, and other 2021 fires, "came a month after Lara imposed a similar moratorium affecting 25,000 homeowners who live in the vicinity of the Lava and Beckwourth Complex fires."
The ban includes parts of 22 Northern California counties and about 325,000 homeowners, but Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara "acknowledged that the moratorium isn’t a cure-all for the breakdown of the property-casualty insurance market in areas prone to wildfires," but rather short-term relief for a long-standing crisis. "The insurance commissioner has been negotiating with the industry to find ways to stabilize the rural markets," where homeowners often have to resort to the state's FAIR plan, "which sells bare-bones policies that insure only against wildfire risk. By the time they’re finished purchasing separate policies covering burglary and other perils, their annual insurance bill has doubled or tripled, costing them thousands."
"Among other things, negotiators are trying to establish standards for home and community “hardening” — including fuel breaks, building retrofits and other measures — that would bring insurers back into areas they’ve been deserting."
FULL STORY: California halts insurance cancellations in major wildfire areas across 22 counties

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

Driving Equity and Clean Air: California Invests in Greener School Transportation
California has awarded $500 million to fund 1,000 zero-emission school buses and chargers for educational agencies as part of its effort to reduce pollution, improve student health, and accelerate the transition to clean transportation.

Congress Moves to End Reconnecting Communities and Related Grants
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee moved to rescind funding for the Neighborhood Equity and Access program, which funds highway removals, freeway caps, transit projects, pedestrian infrastructure, and more.

From Throughway to Public Space: Taking Back the American Street
How the Covid-19 pandemic taught us new ways to reclaim city streets from cars.
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