Homeowners face rising insurance rates Homeowners face rising insurance rates as climate change makes wildfires, storms more common A growing number of Americans are finding it difficult to afford insurance on their homes, a problem only expected to worsen because insurers and lawmakers have underestimated the impact of climate change, a new report says
A report from
"If you're not worried, you're not paying attention," said
First Street estimates, factoring climate models into the financial risk of properties in its report, that roughly 39 million properties - roughly a quarter of all homes in the country - are being underpriced for the climate risk to insure those properties.
"Some places may be impacted very minimally, but other places could see massive increases in insurance premiums in the coming years," said
First Street, a
There are several signs that climate change is taking its toll on the insurance industry. The
"(Climate change) is a problem that is already here," said
Skyrocketing insurance costs are a serious concern for the small town of Paradise in
In July, she was shocked to receive notice that the family's homeowner insurance premium would be
"Our insurance agent said, 'Just be thankful we didn't drop you,' and I said, 'You did, you just dropped me,'" she said.
Goodlin, a former dental hygienist who is now executive director of the nonprofit
Record numbers of Americans are now insured through state-affiliated "insurers of last resort" like
Goodlin will soon be one of those homeowners. She said she's in the process of transitioning to the FAIR Plan.
The number of homeowners covered by
In some cases, policymakers have bound the hands of insurance companies, leading to an underpricing of risk. For example, the most a
As a result,
"We've got to find a way to get insurers to get back into the market, to take people out of the FAIR Plan so that we can reduce the risk there," Dodd said.
Dodd was one of the key lawmakers trying to negotiate a bill in the final weeks of the state's legislative session to address the issue. But all sides failed to reach an agreement.
There are likely to be more insurance market failures in the future, Porter said, as more insurers simply refuse to underwrite policies in certain communities or go property by property. Comparisons to the National Flood Insurance Program, which is now
Even the backstop programs are buckling under tremendous losses.
This summer, reinsurance companies such as
Said
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