Home Insurance Increasingly Unaffordable or Inaccessible

Home insurance companies are abandoning some markets in the Western United States as increasingly devastating and unpredictable wildfires and other disasters drive up costs.

“According to a report from the nonprofit climate research firm First Street Foundation, 39 million homes nationwide are at risk of losing their insurance due to climate hazards,” writes Kylie Mohr in High Country News, prefacing an interview with former California insurance commissioner Dave Jones.

According to Jones, the main driver of higher insurance premiums is climate change. “Until we stop using fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with other sectors of the economy, we’re going to continue to march steadily toward an uninsurable future,” Jones said.

Jones noted that “One thing insurers could do would be to transition out of fossil fuels and other high greenhouse gas-emitting industries as an investor.” They could also adjust their models to account for “landscape-scale forest management” initiatives that reduce fire risk.

Mohr adds that “Recently proposed changes to California’s insurance regulations may allow insurance companies to include wildfire-preparedness measures, such as safety certifications and prescribed burns, in their pricing models.”

Jones also suggests that states should adopt stringent building codes to make structures more fire-resistant and provide assistance for retrofitting programs. When it comes to insurance assistance programs like California’s Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plan, Jones says “Even though it’s expensive, I would argue strongly against artificially suppressing the rates of the FAIR plan, because then you start sending the wrong signal about the risk in certain areas due to climate change.”