March 2, 2024 An acre of land with an abandoned house: Time to call insurance agents Question: We want to build a house. There is a Bay Area lot for sale in our area. It is an acre. It is close to town. There is natural gas connected. However, it is in a high-fire designated area. Plus, the roads are narrow.…
March 1, 2024 He claims to have saved California homeowners billions. The insurance industry hates him Insurance industry groups have called it a “bomb-throwing bogus advocacy” group, a “publicity-seeking, dark money front,” and an organization out to protect its own “financial $elf-interest$.” These are the kinds of attacks that Harvey Rosenfield and Consumer Watchdog, the advocacy group he founded nearly 40…
February 28, 2024 Local expert addresses hot topic of home insurance availability The Via Farallon La Cuesta Firewise group hosted a Zoom meeting, open to the public, on Feb. 22, so that local residents could hear from a local insurance expert about the problem of home insurance nonrenewals. Joel Laucher, a Moraga resident who worked for the…
February 23, 2024 United Policyholders: February 2022 Events United Policyholders (UP) is offering a Roadmap to Recovery® Q&A workshop in February for survivors of wildfires in California. You can submit your questions in advance and UP will address them during the webinar. UP will also have two Survivor to Survivor Forums scheduled for…
February 19, 2024 Virtual town hall will spotlight ‘homeowner insurance crisis’ in Humboldt County As insurers abandon fire-prone areas, homeowners are hard pressed to find — and afford — coverage. Wildfires are increasingly common in rural Northern California, and many homeowners are having to rely on insurance coverage through the insurer of last resort known as the FAIR Plan.…
February 17, 2024 VIRTUAL TOWN HALL TO ADDRESS HOMEOWNER’S INSURANCE CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA At this virtual Town Hall, participants will hear from experts from the California Department of Insurance, United Policyholders, University of California Cooperative Extension of Humboldt/Del Norte Counties (UCCE) and CAL FIRE, who will discuss on-going actions being taken to address California’s homeowner insurance crisis and…
February 9, 2024 Bach Talk: CALIFORNIA HOME INSURANCE UPDATE – 2024 The following is an update on the California home insurance situation from the non-profit consumer organization, United Policyholders, (“UP”). UP is working hard to help California property owners stay insured and financially protected despite unprecedented availability and affordability challenges in the current marketplace. Insurers are…
February 7, 2024 Hurricane in California hits homeowners already facing insurance crisis This week’s hurricanes in California hit a part of the US that was already struggling with a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs have become too high in most of California, with some insurers leaving the market, unwilling to take the risks posed by the frequency…
February 6, 2024 Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis The storms pummeling California this week hit a part of the US already being battered by a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs in much of California have become exceedingly high, with some insurers abandoning the market, unwilling to take on the risk presented by the…
February 6, 2024 Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis The storms pummeling California this week hit a part of the US already being battered by a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs in much of California have become exceedingly high, with some insurers abandoning the market, unwilling to take on the risk presented by the…
February 5, 2024 Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation By Amy Bach, Executive Director, United Policyholders So far 2024 has brought more bad news for property owners, public officials, lenders and home builders on the insurance availability and affordability fronts with non-renewals, scant options and high premiums. Front page news across the country. Rate…
January 25, 2024 Increase your resiliency in the new year… If you own a home, we suggest putting “make risk reduction improvements” on your New Year’s resolution list. Taking steps to make it less likely that severe weather or a wildfire will damage your home is more important than ever. Insurers have added new coverage…
January 25, 2024 Call Kurtis: What to do if your home insurance company drops you? The Hartford Insurance is the latest company to say it will stop writing new homeowners’ policies in California starting Feb. 1. It cites challenges in the market, especially with the California fire risk. The industry says it’s struggled to get the Department of Insurance to…
January 23, 2024 ReCoverCA Owner-Occupied Mitigation (OOM) Grant Grant Alert: ReCoverCA Owner-Occupied Mitigation (OOM) Grant: Open Learn more here: https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/grants/wildfire-prevention-grants (Scroll down to OOM Grant) 2020 Eligible Counties Include: Butte, Santa Cruz, Solano, Fresno, Los Angeles, Napa, Shasta, Siskiyou, and Sonoma counties. Thank you Brittany Halfhide, ReCoverCA, for sharing this opportunity with our WRAP…
January 20, 2024 California should require insurers to cover homeowners who protect property, advocate says Carmen Balber, the executive director of the advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog, said she came to Sacramento recently to pitch legislators and their staff on a plan she hopes will help some Californians keep their property insurance. She wants lawmakers to require that companies sell policies…
January 11, 2024 House Bill Would Create National Reinsurance Program The U.S. Department of the Treasury would administer a new national reinsurance program under a $350 billion proposal that would also provide grants for risk-mitigation activities and cash payments for low-income Read more here
January 8, 2024 State Farm to raise homeowners rates in California Adjustment driven by “increased costs and risk” State Farm policyholders in California are bracing for higher home insurance premiums after regulators approved a rate increase for the insurance giant this year. The approved 20% adjustment applies to renewed policies and will be effective from March…
January 4, 2024 Getting Insured: Tips for finding home insurance in California A new court ruling could give homeowners slightly more choices under the California Fair Plan, but experts say that could take time. If 2024 is the year you can finally buy a new home, the next and maybe even greater challenge could very well be…