Weekly Roundup: Climate Disasters Driving Rising Premiums, Policy Shifts, and Growing Insurance Instability
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2026
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
Weekly Roundup: New Blueprint, New Polling, and Growing Calls for Insurance Reform
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/ BREAKING — WILDFIRES SPREAD ACROSS SOUTH GEORGIA: Wildfires raging across south Georgia are displacing families and destroying the homes and security they’ve built over a lifetime. And at a time when people need their insurance most, too many may find their coverage insufficient and claim payments denied or delayed.
We will continue to closely monitor these developments and their insurance impacts, because what happens next will determine how and whether families are able to recover.
2/ NEW REPORT ON HAWAIʻI’S ESCALATING HOME INSURANCE CRISIS: A new report from the Insurance Fairness Project shows how intensifying climate disasters and systemic insurance challenges are leaving residents, farmers, and businesses across Hawaiʻi increasingly vulnerable and exposed to financial and physical risks.
As economic losses mount into the billions, insurance is becoming both more expensive and harder to obtain, with some homeowners seeing premiums double in just one year and others losing coverage altogether.
Insurance Fairness Project: New Report: Hawaiʻi’s Home Insurance Crisis Deepens as Climate Disasters and Coverage Gaps Leave Communities Exposed
“Hawaiʻi is one of the states on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and the insurance system simply isn’t built to keep up,” said TJ Helmstetter, a spokesperson for the Insurance Fairness Project. “ Policymakers have a narrowing window to strengthen infrastructure, close dangerous coverage gaps, and ensure that families are shouldering the entire bill.”
Honolulu Star-Advisor: Climate disasters strain state’s insurance
3/ INSURANCE BILLS MOVE FORWARD IN CALIFORNIA: This week, three bills (SB 877, SB 878, and SB 1301) successfully advanced out of the state Senate Insurance Committee in California. These bills would protect disaster victims from nonrenewals and ensure they receive claims payments they are entitled to. A fourth bill to require coverage of homes meeting mitigation standards failed to advance.
Consumer Watchdog: Legislation to Get Families the Home Insurance Benefits They Paid for and Stem Nonrenewals Passes Senate Insurance Committee
“Passage of these bills means real progress to hold insurance companies accountable for claims delays, underpayments, and unfairly dropping policies. [...] Thank you to the Senators who voted for the bill and recognize that the way to keep Californians insured is by reducing risk for everyone,” said Carmen Balber, executive director, Consumer Watchdog.
POLITICO: California Senate committee rejects climate liability, wildfire insurance proposals
And a new op-ed co-authored by California Sen. Scott Wiener, Hawaiʻi Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, and New York Sen. Brian Kavanagh explains how climate-driven insurance cost increases are driving the affordability crisis. Each is sponsoring legislation to empower state attorneys general to bring civil actions against Big Oil to collect damages after major disasters; Wiener’s California bill is another that failed to advance out of that committee this week.
4/ UCLA RESEARCH ON HOMELESSNESS, CLIMATE IMPACT, AND WILDFIRE LESSONS: Recent research by UCLA Fielding researchers Dr. Kathryn Leifheit and Dr. Randall Kuhn emphasizes the connection between climate change and homelessness, and makes clear that people experiencing homelessness must be a focus of recovery planning.
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health: UCLA researchers lead studies of homelessness in U.S., including impact of climate change and lessons learned from the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires
“Our findings underscore the reality that homelessness can be seen as a predictable consequence of climate disasters, so governments should focus on housing stabilization in their disaster response plans, while dedicating adequate funding to provide housing-specific services,” said Dr. Kathryn Leifheit, assistant professor in the UCLA Fielding School’s Department of Health Policy and Management and a lead author of the national study.
Santa Monica Daily Press: Climate change, disasters driving homelessness surge across U.S., UCLA studies find
5/ NEW REPORT ON HOW FLORIDA GOP HAS FUELED THE INSURANCE CRISIS: A new report from Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) highlights the role of the Florida GOP in the state's escalating home insurance crisis, explaining how the party’s consistent voting record against climate action and disaster preparedness funding has increased insurance costs for Florida homeowners.
They also hosted a press call previewing the new report, which featured Douglas Quinn, Executive Director of the American Policyholders Association, Michael DeLong, Research and Policy Associate for the Consumer Federation of America, Jayson O’Neill from UAF, and Nikki Fried, Chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
Unlocking America’s Future: WATCH: Florida Congressional Republicans Have Undermined Disaster Preparedness and Fueled Home Insurance Crisis New Report Finds
“There is a crisis facing Floridians right now. Housing prices are rising. Insurance costs are skyrocketing. And insurance companies continue to deny claims that threaten to make recovery from natural disasters financially impossible for thousands of Florida families. Meanwhile, Florida Congressional Republicans, like Maria Elvira Salazar, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, and Cory Mills continue to do nothing, and are actively making this crisis worse,” said Nikki Fried, Chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
6/ WEBINAR: HOW TO STOP PROPERTY INSURANCE PROFITEERING: On Thursday, April 30, 2026, at 1 PM ET, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator will host a virtual call on how states can strengthen affordability protections, featuring Brian Shearer from Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, Harvey Rosenfield from Consumer Watchdog, and Sharon Lewis from CT Coalition for Economic and Environmental Justice. Register here!
7/ FEDERAL REINSURANCE PROGRAM PROPOSAL: Academics propose that the US government should act as a public reinsurer to assume the risk of major climate disasters. Since the government can borrow at lower rates than private insurers, that would reduce costs passed to policyholders.
The Hamilton Project: A proposal for a US federal property reinsurer
Climate & Capital Media: The US government as a federal reinsurer? These researchers think it’s possible
Jordan Haedtler, a climate financial policy consultant, said even those in the insurance industry don’t realise the scale of the issue, and the need for more work around adaptation and resilience [....]
“So long as the climate crisis continues to inflict damage on insurance markets, the fragmented nature of our state-regulated system is probably not sustainable,” he said.
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.
