Home Insurance in the Age of Climate Change

 

The wildfires that roared through the hillsides of Altadena and Pacific Palisades resulted in catastrophic loss and death. To rebuild will take time, resources, patience (many anticipate 7-10 years) and money – lots of it.

 

Initial estimates peg the cost to rebuild as high as $275 billion dollars. Those final unknown costs and eventual payouts paint the picture of the future of California’s homeowner’s insurance marketplace (the largest in the United States), in the throws of climate change.

 

Our state has experienced a growing number of wildfires and floods in the past decade. The fire seasons have become longer and exponentially more devastating. In addition, post-covid, the cost of business has gone up (i.e. construction materials, skilled labor and interest rate) making it more expensive and/or virtually impossible to insure a home purchase in certain areas of California.

 

What has become clear, is that global warming is real and will largely affect Southern California for decades to come.

 

In Los Altos and most of Long Beach, we’ve been spared a lot of the devastating effects of the wildfires and floods. Let’s not become complacent and think major weather or earthquake events won’t happen here.

 

Let’s do everything possible to help our neighbors devastated by the Eaton, Pacific Palisades, Hurst and Auto Fires. At the same time, we should put pressure on our city and legislature to create and market a plan to minimize key catastrophic weather events here in Long Beach.

 

We must look to be more vigilant in protecting ourselves, our families, our homes and our community – in addition to keeping our skyrocketing home insurance costs within reach for all of us.