Weekly Roundup: National Flood Insurance Program Still Awaits Reauthorization
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2025
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
Weekly Roundup: National Flood Insurance Program Still Awaits Reauthorization
CA Sees Competing Ballot Measures… NC Landslides Expose Insurance Gap… CO Wildfires Cause Spikes
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/ IS AMERICA’S FLOOD INSURANCE SYSTEM ‘DOOMED TO FAIL’?: The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), run by FEMA, covers over 4.7 million Americans, but faces increasing financial strain and is sinking deeper into debt as climate change intensifies and more people live in high-risk areas. Set to expire on September 30, 2025, the program still awaits congressional reauthorization.
Houston Chronicle: Texans could lose flood insurance if Congress doesn't pass a spending deal. Here's what to know
The Palm Beach Post: With Florida's most popular flood insurance set to run out, here's what to know on FEMA
Insurance Fairness Project’s Jordan Haedtler:"Federal cuts to FEMA and NOAA have already inflicted huge costs on communities and threatened the availability of insurance throughout the country. A lapse in the NFIP would make our climate-driven insurance and housing affordability crisis even worse.”
2/ DUELING INITIATIVES IN CALIFORNIA: California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has announced plans to reform a key part of the state’s insurance law – the intervenor process. This process allows outside groups to rate hearings and advocate for consumers. In response, Consumer Watchdog has filed a ballot measure aimed at protecting homeowners’ rights.
Insurance Journal: California’s Insurance Commissioner Is Seeking Changes to The Intervenor Process
CalMatters: Consumer Watchdog wants to get insurance on the ballot
Insurance Business: California ballot battle heats up over insurance consumer protection
Statement from Consumer Watchdog: “Homeowners deserve to know that when they do the right thing and make their homes safe from wildfires they will have access to home insurance,” said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog. “The Insurance Policyholder Bill of Rights guarantees that people who invest in wildfire mitigation get coverage and prevents companies from cancelling people simply because they file a claim.”
3/ INSURERS CLAIM REFORMS ARE WORKING, BUT STILL DEMAND RATE HIKES: Meanwhile, also in California, five property insurance companies that originally left the state have re-entered the market, crediting Lara’s pro-industry reforms. But the companies have already requested the state to approve a 6.9% rate increase.
Fox40 Sacramento: Five property insurers return to California amid new reforms
Gov. Gavin Newsom: “I think this issue, I really believe this, from a global perspective, may be one of the most pressing global issues as it relates to the issues of climate change: the inability to purchase a home, let alone to get a mortgage on a home, to develop a home with an insurance market that simply is no longer viable.”
4/ HELENE’S DEADLY LANDSLIDES EXPOSE INSURANCE GAP: Landslides are generally not covered by standard homeowner's insurance, and specialized landslide insurance policies can be quite costly. Unlike floodplains, there are currently no significant regulations governing residency in landslide-prone areas.
WUNC: What Helene taught us about deadly landslides
“The trees just piled up all down through there, and then the water, it was gushing the whole way down through here,” said Darlene Kurkendall, pointing across the road.
Where there were once homes and trees, now there’s only mud and dirt. The landslide took the homes of her mom, and her brother and his wife.
5/ WILDFIRES CAUSE INSURANCE SPIKE IN COLORADO: A new report by Colorado State University’s Regional Economic Development Institute reveals the state has the sixth-highest homeowner insurance costs nationwide. This is largely due to homes in wildfire-prone regions, and these costs are not expected to decrease in the near future.
Key findings from the report:
Colorado is the sixth-costliest state for homeowners insurance and costs are rising — mainly in wildfire-prone regions.
Policy nonrenewal rates are relatively higher in rural, eastern regions of the state.
CO has recently issued a state-backed insurance policy of last resort (the FAIR plan). The FAIR plan will help address availability concerns; however, insurance coverage gaps will remain.
Wildfire Today: Wildfires trigger Colorado insurance spike
“It could mean that insurers are able to cover their risk (in Colorado) in other ways. They can raise their premiums or adjust their terms in a way that makes them feel comfortable,” Norris told Colorado State University. “We’re seeing a lot of non-renewal in places like California and Florida, where insurers are seeing repeated giant losses from these hazard events and they aren’t able to raise their prices fast enough.”
6/ NEW REPORT SHOWS HIDDEN COSTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND AFFORDABILITY CRISIS IN CA: Californians face an affordability crisis, driven by both immediate and less visible impacts of climate change, such as floods and wildfires. A new report by Next 10 and UC Berkeley's Center for Law, Energy & Environment (CLEE) details these impacts.
Key Findings:
Droughts made longer and more intense by climate change bring high financial costs.
The economic impact of the 2021 drought in California included an estimated loss of $1.7 billion in revenue for farmers across the state.
Floods in 2023 generated $5 billion to $7 billion in economic losses in California, and over $900 billion worth of homes and other structures in California face flooding risk.
Press release: Report: Hidden costs of climate change fueling affordability crisis in California
The Guardian: ‘Hidden costs’ of climate emergency are worsening California’s affordability crisis – report
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
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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.
