Weekly Roundup: Climate Change Ramps Up Insurance Affordability Pressures, As Experts Call for Resiliency Investments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2026
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Weekly Roundup: Climate Change Ramps Up Insurance Affordability Pressures, As Experts Call for Resiliency Investments
Each week, the Insurance Fairness Project highlights the latest developments in the national climate-driven property insurance crisis. For more insurance updates, follow us on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and Bluesky.
1/ HOMEOWNERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY SAY INSURANCE COSTS ARE SURGING: Per a new Pew Research Center survey, a growing majority of Americans are feeling the strain of rising home insurance costs:
71% of U.S. homeowners say the cost of their homeowners insurance has gone up over the last few years. 42% who say it has gone up “a lot.”
Factors respondents cited for rising premiums: insurance companies’ push for profits (65%); rising rebuilding costs (61%); more frequent extreme weather (46%).
Among low-income homeowners, one in six say they don’t have insurance at all.
CNBC: 42% of homeowners say insurance costs have gone up ‘a lot,’ survey finds. Here’s why
“It’s definitely a pervasive issue,” said Amy Bach, co-founder and executive director of United Policyholders, a consumer advocacy group for insurance policyholders. “At this point, rates have been going up by so much, it just feels unfair.”
Pew Research Center: 71% of U.S. homeowners say their home insurance costs have gone up
2/ CLIMATE CHANGE IS DRIVING A NATIONWIDE INSURANCE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS: A new report from the Coalition for an Insurable Future shows how climate change is driving the 38% home insurance premium increase since 2021 — and the risks that poses for the stability of the housing market. Without stronger investments in climate resilience and disaster mitigation, homeowners across the U.S. could face another wave of sharp premium hikes over the next decade as insurers continue pulling back from high-risk markets and passing growing costs onto consumers.
The Coalition for an Insurable Future: The threat of climate change to the US insurance industry
Tampa Bay Times: Homeowners insurance in Florida has increased by how much?
3/ MAKING BIG OIL PAY FOR INSURANCE CRISIS COULD DELIVER $3.8B TO NEW YORKERS: A Greenline Insights study shows New York’s Climate Accountability and Loss Recovery Act (S.8585) could help shift the rising costs of climate disasters from New Yorkers onto major Big Oil companies:
Recovery efforts under the law could generate $3.8 billion in damages, roughly $340 per New Yorker.
That would support $2.7 billion in statewide economic growth and create up to 11,900 jobs.
Full Study: Consumer and Economic Impacts of the Climate Accountability and Loss Recovery Act
Center for Climate Integrity: New Study: Making The Fossil Fuel Industry Pay For Climate-Driven Property Insurance Crisis Could Deliver $3.8 Billion to New Yorkers
“Everyday New Yorkers are being forced to pick up the tab for climate change through rising home insurance premiums, while the companies most responsible for it pay nothing. Making the fossil fuel industry pay its fair share would turn financial losses into economic gains — it would mean more money in the pockets of New York families and more money circulating in local economies.”
On the same day the study was released, New York lawmakers voted to gut the state’s landmark climate law, extending the state’s dependence on expensive and polluting fossil fuels — making it even more urgent that the financial and social costs of the fossil-fuel energy economy be recouped from the oil and gas giants whose products are damaging the climate in the first place.
4/ LEGISLATOR CALLS FOR RESILIENCE INVESTMENTS TO LOWER INSURANCE COSTS: In the Orlando Sentinel, Florida State Representative Anna V. Eskamani argues states need stronger climate resilience and infrastructure strategies as rising seas, intensifying hurricanes, drought, hailstorms, and rapid development strain our housing and insurance markets.
Orlando Sentinel: Commentary: Why Florida has to lead on water, resilience and climate
Flooding is hitting our neighborhoods, properties, insurance bills and small businesses. And in a state already in the grip of an affordability crisis, resilience investment isn’t optional, it’s one of the most direct ways we can lower risk, stabilize home values, and protect families from being priced out by the next storm. [...] Every dollar we invest on the front end is a dollar we don’t pay later in property insurance hikes, emergency response or human tragedy.
5/ LOBBY GROUP TOUTS HOME HARDENING BUT STAYS MUM ON INSURERS’ RESPONSIBILITY: Meanwhile, in an op-ed published by the Dallas Morning News, the head of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association argues for state grants for home fortification, like programs recently implemented in Louisiana, Northern Carolina, and Alabama.
The Dallas Morning News: State help for roof improvements can limit storm damage, costs
However, the trade association CEO notably does not mention legislation in other states that would force insurers to take home hardening into account in their risk assessments and to pass discounts to homeowners.
6/ AS EXTREME WEATHER INCREASES EVERYWHERE, RESILIENCY IS A UNIVERSAL CONCERN: Even in states like Colorado, which aren’t subject to the same annual storm and flood cycle as the coasts, increasing weather impacts like hail now require a comprehensive resiliency strategy.
Denver7:New report warns climate change could make Colorado’s hailstorms more destructive
Earlier this year, the Insurance Fairness Project (that’s us!) issued a report diving into Colorado’s property insurance landscape. On an accompanying media call, experts called for stronger mitigation standards, resilience investments, and robust consumer protections.
7/ TRIO OF CALIFORNIA HOME INSURANCE REFORMS PASS SENATE: This week the California Senate approved three key bills designed to help Californians maintain insurance coverage and secure timely benefits following extreme weather disasters, which now move to the Assembly:
SB 877: Gives consumers stronger tools to challenge underpaid claims by requiring insurers to share all original loss estimates and any revisions.
SB 878: Reinforces protections against claim delays by requiring insurers to provide timely written responses and imposing penalties for delayed payment of undisputed claims.
SB 1301: Protects policyholders from sudden nonrenewals by requiring more notice, clear explanations, and an opportunity to make repairs to keep coverage.
Consumer Watchdog: Trio of Home Insurance Reform Bills to Require Fair and Timely Payouts and Improve Access to Coverage Clear CA Senate Floor
Resources
Insurance Fairness Project: Polling – Voters Want Their Government to Address the Property Insurance Crisis
Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project: Mapping the Home Insurance Crisis
Consumer Federation of America: Overburdened: The Dramatic Increase in Homeowners Insurance Premiums and its Impacts on American Homeowners
Brookings Institution:Homeowners insurance in an era of climate change
Consumer Federation of America and Climate and Community Institute: Penalized: The Hidden Cost of Credit Score in Homeowners Insurance Premiums
Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen: Rising Property Insurance Premiums: The Uneven Risks to Household and Systemic Financial Stability
Climate and Community Institute (CCI): Insurers of Last Resort: Why Today’s FAIR Plans Need a Redesign to Address the Home Insurance Crisis
Center for Climate Integrity: How Big Oil is Fueling the Insurance Crisis And Why State Policymakers Should Act
Dave Jones, Yale Law Journal: The Uninsurable Future: The Climate Threat to Property Insurance, and How to Stop It
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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.
