Weekly Roundup: Once-Affordable States Face Housing Cost Squeeze, New Lawsuits in California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2025
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
Weekly Roundup: Once-Affordable States Face Housing Cost Squeeze, New Lawsuits in California
Each week, the Insurance Fairness Project is highlighting the latest news stories about the country’s climate-driven insurance crisis.
This week, stories from across the country highlight that nowhere is immune to the home insurance crisis. Meanwhile, in California, new lawsuits allege illegal collusion by insurance companies to drop policyholders and push them onto the state’s beleaguered FAIR Plan.
SPOTLIGHT: Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project’s new interactive maps using government data broken down by zip code and county demonstrate that the insurance affordability and availability crisis is not limited to coastal states or hotspots but is spreading rapidly across the country.
Here are some news stories from this week demonstrating the nationwide reach of the crisis:
Washington Post: Texas was once affordable. After hail and hurricanes, not anymore.
[...] as bigger, more frequent storms pummel Texas, and inflation makes it more expensive to repair and rebuild homes, spiking property insurance costs are challenging the state’s perception of itself as an antidote to expensive coastal cities.
Public News Service: Nebraska housing market hobbled by insurance price spikes
The CFA report shows Nebraskans have seen a 35% increase in homeowners' insurance prices in the three-year period.
St. George News: Report: Utah socked with high home insurance premiums
Insurance premiums have gone up substantially and according to a new report, Utah is the state where homeowners are being hit the hardest.
Axios Salt Lake City: Spiking insurance costs are cutting into Salt Lake's housing affordability
Rising insurance costs could put homeownership further out of reach in Salt Lake's already-pricey housing market.
New Mexico Political Report: Maps chart declining availability of affordable home insurance
New Mexico saw a 31% increase in the number of home insurance policies that were not renewed from 2018 to 2023, according to information compiled by two advocacy groups.
Meanwhile, in California, two new lawsuits allege that private insurance companies illegally colluded to drop policyholders, sending hundreds of thousands of Californians to the troubled FAIR Plan...
San Francisco Chronicle: Lawsuit: California home insurers colluded to create an insurance crisis
The suits allege that by pushing homeowners to the FAIR Plan, private insurance companies reduced their exposure to wildfire risk while preserving their ability to profit, as FAIR Plan policies often cost much more than those from traditional insurers. [...]
… While survivors of the Los Angeles fires say that the FAIR Plan is failing them just when they need it most.
Los Angeles Times: Insurer of last resort kept growing. Then L.A. fire victims paid the price
[...] the backup insurance has not lived up to its promise, drawing numerous complaints among policyholders about delays in payments and other issues.
Read More:
Los Angeles Times: California’s insurer of last resort is in crisis — and you could end up paying for it
Houston Chronicle: Texas' insurance crisis is hitting an unexpected target: Public schools
Insurify: Tariffs Could Raise Home Insurance Costs up to 38% Faster
Washington State Insurance Commissioner: How climate change affects your insurance
Resources
Equitable & Just Insurance Initiative: A Guide for State and Local Governments to Protect People Financially in the Lead-up to and Aftermath of Climate Disasters
Specific solutions to protect homeowners, renters, and policyholders in the aftermath of a disaster.
Consumer Federation of America: Overburdened
The Dramatic Increase in Homeowners Insurance Premiums and its Impacts on American Homeowners
Center for Climate Integrity: Premiums on Fire
How State Farm’s California rate hike forces the rising costs of climate disasters onto policyholders
Center for American Progress: Managing the Climate Change-Fueled Property Insurance Crisis
How climate change and escalating insurance costs are widening economic inequality and threaten the already limited supply of affordable housing.
Insurance Fairness Project and Data For Progress: Polling – Voters Want Their Government to Address the Property Insurance Crisis
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The Insurance Fairness Project is an information hub dedicated to offering insights into the home insurance crisis, exploring its drivers and highlighting solutions alongside issue experts and community advocates.
