Climate change is making insuring homes more risky — and more expensive. And in neighborhoods where that risk is the greatest, higher insurance costs are starting to eat into property values as well.
Main link is a gift link, though some people are asked to register. Not providing an archive.is link because Hearst lawyers don’t like that.
Sigh. I’d kill to have my $1700 premium back. 2024 I got cancelled and it was fair plan shit for $7500 or $9000 for proper coverage.
I live on the edge of town inside the city’s fire district with a hydrant just down the driveway and less than a mile from the fire station. My house is pretty average and reasonably well defended. My neighbors are seeing the same thing with their insurers.
That means for full protection for our house, we’re looking at $20k/yr. Because earthquake insurance is just over 10k. Utterly preposterous.
The problem with being at the edge of town is that your whole community needs to be resistant to embers blowing in. That requires both a ton of specific mods to older structures, as well as measures like clearing zone zero.
I wonder what it would take for neighbors to get together and make a collective that could insure themselves. Or at least get collective bargaining. Thats what the school teachers of California did.
The problem with that approach is that insurance works when one member of the group loses a house to fire. It doesn’t work when the whole community burns down.
What you can do is have local government conduct risk reduction, which means like things like requiring building improvements, zone zero, and fuel reduction in surrounding areas.
