We made a BIG impact in 2025!
We made a BIG impact in 2025!

“Your group and webinars are just amazing and most useful. The best resource and people we’ve encountered. We are so grateful for everything you do.” – Christine, 2025 LA Wildfire Survivor Roadmap to Recovery® Program Within a week of the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles,…
Summer is Here ~ Less is More
Summer is Here ~ Less is More

If you live in a suburb or rural area, as you refuel the BBQ and dust off outdoor furniture, take a moment to look around your home and yard. What is in that first five feet around and right up against your home? What if…
State’s new fire maps won’t push up insurance rates, industry says
State’s new fire maps won’t push up insurance rates, industry says

After seeing his premiums quadruple in the past three years, Shawn Faircloth wondered if a new wildfire designation could spell yet another insurance hike for his San Juan Capistrano home. “I’m assuming they will leverage up my rates even more,” said Faircloth, 49, whose home…
State: Home insurance companies can’t cancel policies based solely on aerial photos
State: Home insurance companies can’t cancel policies based solely on aerial photos

The department that oversees private insurance in New Hampshire has warned companies that it takes more than an aerial photo or two of a house to make decisions about issuing a policy. “The Department has received several complaints in recent months in which certain carriers…
How climate change is reshaping home insurance in California — and the rest of the U.S.
How climate change is reshaping home insurance in California — and the rest of the U.S.

As the wildfires in Los Angeles tear through hillsides, raze neighborhoods and displace residents, it’s too early to know how vast the destruction will be when the last of the flames is put out. Initial estimates predict that the costs will be massive. One leading…
Why California Insurers Are Being Forced Back Into Wildfire Zones
Why California Insurers Are Being Forced Back Into Wildfire Zones

California Introduces New Rules to Boost Wildfire Coverage in At-Risk Areas California has long struggled with providing adequate home insurance to residents living in wildfire-prone regions. After devastating fires in recent years and increasing climate risks, a new set of regulations aims to stabilize the…
Insuring your home has never been harder. Here’s how to do it.
Insuring your home has never been harder. Here’s how to do it.

Christina Temple moved to Truckee, California, to buy her first home. The small mountain town, a short drive from Lake Tahoe, offered the former preschool teacher and her husband, a carpenter, a shot at becoming middle class by escaping crushing housing costs near Santa Cruz,…
California’s Evolving Insurance Market: Is Relief on the Horizon?
California’s Evolving Insurance Market: Is Relief on the Horizon?

California’s home insurance market has been under immense pressure in recent years, leaving homeowners dealing with uncertainty about their coverage. Farmers Insurance, the state’s second-largest home insurer, recently announced a significant decision to expand the number of policies it writes each month. While it marks…
Farmers Insurance says they’ll write more policies as homeowners’ market improves
Farmers Insurance says they’ll write more policies as homeowners’ market improves

Farmers is California’s second-largest home insurer and the largest business insurer. It now says California’s “improved insurance marketplace” allows it to expand the number of policies it writes each month. But, does that mean California’s insurance drought is ending? With a total 8.4 million homes…
Farmers Insurance says it will add more policies in California
Farmers Insurance says it will add more policies in California

In a surprise announcement, California’s second-largest insurance provider, Farmers Insurance, says it is going to add more policies for property owners. Starting Saturday, Farmers told NBC Bay Area it will increase the number of new home insurance policies it accepts each month in California from…
High insurance and non-renewals hit hard in Mendocino County
High insurance and non-renewals hit hard in Mendocino County

Everyone knows that California, like many other states, is in the midst of an insurance crisis. The pressing questions are: What can property owners do to bring costs down, and is there help on the horizon? On Nov. 19, the eve of the season’s first…
California homeowner made costly upgrades to satisfy his insurer. He still got dropped
California homeowner made costly upgrades to satisfy his insurer. He still got dropped

Sonoma County homeowner Ed Wong found himself in a rare situation: He knew exactly what he needed to do to avoid getting dropped by his insurer. The company had even given him a list. On it were three mandatory upgrades, for gas, plumbing and security…
Is it possible to get a break in an insurance crisis?
Is it possible to get a break in an insurance crisis?

Everyone knows that California, like many other states, is in the midst of an insurance crisis. The pressing questions are: what can property owners do to bring costs down; and is there help on the horizon? On the eve of the season’s first atmospheric river,…
Panel to tackle state fire insurance crisis Dec. 8
Panel to tackle state fire insurance crisis Dec. 8

California’s insurance crisis and what can be done about it is the focus of a panel discussion set for Sunday, Dec. 8, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Ojai Retreat & Inn, 160 Besant Road. The wildfire insurance coverage panel, organized by the Ojai…
Officials offer tips to Portola Valley residents struggling to maintain home insurance
Officials offer tips to Portola Valley residents struggling to maintain home insurance

Portola Valley hosted an event to inform local residents about home insurance options and policies, an important topic for a community at risk for wildfires. On Nov. 11, over 60 residents joined a presentation and Q&A with the California Department of Insurance and United Policyholders,…
THE BERKELEY ACTIVISTS’ CALENDAR, November 10-17
THE BERKELEY ACTIVISTS’ CALENDAR, November 10-17

Worth Noting: Monday, November 11, 2024 is the Veteran’s Day Holiday. The agenda for the November 19, 2024 City Council meeting is available for comment. Check City website for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov Go to meetings are: City Council on Tuesday, the Parks…
Allstate gets OK to raise California home insurance rates by average of 34%
Allstate gets OK to raise California home insurance rates by average of 34%

Home insurance is about to get a whole lot more expensive for a lot of people in California. California’s Department of Insurance recently approved Allstate’s request for the largest rate increase the state has seen in the past three years. Homeowners’ insurance will go up…
California homeowners left scrambling as State Farm slashes policies and hikes rates — here’s what this could mean for you
California homeowners left scrambling as State Farm slashes policies and hikes rates — here’s what this could mean for you

The process was described as “ongoing with no timeline for when it could be resolved.” The ongoing climate crisis has increased the frequency and intensity of natural disasters like the recent Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, and insurance companies are pulling back coverage from the…