Wildfires Hasten Another Climate Crisis: Homeowners Who Can’t Get Insurance

An article in the New York Times today highlights how in the face of more frequent and severe wildfires, home insurers are retreating from fire-prone areas, leaving homeowners at risk and and potentially devastating the housing market if homes become uninsurable. This creates a complex dilemma for governments, who regulate insurance premiums and must strike a balance between letting rates rise, hurting homeowners, or risking that insurance companies will continue to pull out of vulnerable areas.

"The insurance crisis is making California a test case for the financial dangers of climate change nationwide, as wildfires, floods and other disasters create economic shocks well beyond the physical damage of the disasters themselves. Those changes have already started to affect home prices, the mortgage industry and the bond market," according to the article.

Wildfires Hasten Another Climate Crisis: Homeowners Who Can’t Get Insurance, New York Times