Weekly Roundup: The Insurance Crisis Is Becoming a Top Electoral Issue… Policymakers Explore Different Solutions, Did Fannie/Freddie Make Recovery Harder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2026
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
Weekly Roundup: The Insurance Crisis Is Becoming a Top Electoral Issue… Policymakers Explore Different Solutions, Did Fannie/Freddie Make Recovery Harder
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/ BANKS SEE RISING CREDIT RISK DUE TO INSURANCE CRISIS: As the climate crisis makes property insurance more expensive and hard to get, the growing protection gap will lead to escalating credit risk for banks that rely on residential property as collateral for loans.
Financial Review: Banks face climate stress as home insurance crisis widens
“Mortgaged properties, both the land and the home, serve as collateral, and banks require adequate insurance to safeguard the value of this collateral against unexpected events,” APRA said. “When uninsured homes suffer damage from weather perils, the risk associated with the loans increases.”
2/ FANNIE AND FREDDIE WILL NOW ALLOW INADEQUATE ROOF INSURANCE: The federal mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will now allow mortgages to be backed by cheaper “actual cash value” roof insurance rather than full replacement coverage. That means even after a disaster payout, many homeowners would not be able to afford to repair or rebuild.
Bloomberg:Your Roof Is Ground Zero of the Insurance Crisis
“Roof damage is a building-killer. It lets water in, which does so much more damage,” Doug Quinn, executive director of the American Policyholder Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, told me. “So roof repair is both expensive and critical. And they’re shifting that burden from insurers to policyholders.”
“If you asked an insurance professional 10 to 15 years ago if they were concerned about severe convective storms, they’d have looked at you blankly,” former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones told me. “They weren’t a factor. Now, they’re 40% of natural-catastrophe losses and only going to get worse as climate change worsens.”
“Roof fortification” has been a hot topic of discussion at recent meetings of state insurance commissioners, Jordan Haedtler, a former House Financial Services Committee staff member and climate finance strategist, told me. Thousands of roofs in states like Alabama and Oklahoma have been strengthened.
3/ SHOULD BIG OIL PAY TO CLEAN UP HAWAIʻI? States are increasingly looking for ways to make oil and gas companies pay for the impact of pollution they generate, And as Hawaiʻi confronts severe flooding, new reporting lays out the reasons why Big Oil should fund flood cleanup there — which will be expensive, with only 4.2% of homes carrying flood insurance. Floods have already meant nearly $11 million in crop losses for farmers, only 3% of whom have federal crop insurance.
Honolulu Civil Beat: Should Oil And Gas Companies Pay To Clean Up Hawaiʻi’s Flood Damage?
“When you look at what happened with the big tobacco settlements or the opioid industry, it’s the same kind of thing,” said Evan Weber, a climate activist with the progressive political action committee Our Hawaiʻi. “These companies deceived the public and basically lied about their product and then, you know, other folks had to kind of bear the cost of that.”
In Hawaii, Big Oil lobbyists have killed SB 3000, which would have held oil and gas companies accountable for climate-attributable harm and used those funds to support mitigation and recovery — even though polling showed 61% of Hawaiʻi voters supported proposals like SB 3000. Another bill, SB 1166, which passed out of committee this week, would allow insurers to sue oil and gas companies to cover claims they paid out after major storms.
4/ COLORADO’S CLIMATE CRISIS IS WALLOPING HOME INSURANCE: A new analysis of how climate change is actively reshaping life across Colorado identified home insurance as a major issue for families. Annual premiums in Colorado have surged 58% in five years, reaching into the thousands for many. Meanwhile, coverage is getting harder to find, forcing the state to launch a “last-resort” FAIR Plan to cover homeowners who can’t get private insurance at all.
Colorado Sun: Climate change is already happening in Colorado. Here are 10 signs we can see right now.
The analysis lines up directly with what the Insurance Fairness Project laid out in our recent report on Colorado’s insurance crisis, which we discussed in a press call with legislators, experts, and consumer advocates.
5/ GROUPS DEMAND STATE DATA TRANSPARENCY: Consumer protection, climate, and housing groups are urging state insurance commissioners to publicly release more state-level insurance data. They argue that this data is crucial to fully assess the U.S. home insurance crisis.
Public Citizen: As Insurance Rates Skyrocket, Groups Call for Data to be Made Public
“Climate change is driving a home insurance crisis,” said Rick Morris, senior insurance campaigner with Public Citizen’s Climate Program. “Rates are spiking all across the country, and while more and more people go without home insurance, the industry is raking in record profits” [....]
Public Citizen: Press Conference: Groups Call on Insurance Commissioners to Increase Data Transparency @ NACI 2026 (video)
Public Citizen: Letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on Home Insurance Data Transparency
6/ NEW PROPOSAL TO CREATE A FEDERAL REINSURANCE COMPANY: The Brookings Institution is proposing a federal reinsurance company for US home insurers, which would function as a "public option" to address rising premiums and coverage deficiencies resulting from increasing climate disasters.
Bloomberg:The Home Insurance Crisis Could Use a Public Assist
Thirty-six states don’t regulate insurance rates, former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones pointed out in an interview. Unless rate cuts are mandated by the federal government, a steep political ask, insurers will be free in those states to pocket the benefits of lower reinsurance premiums.
7/ INSURANCE COSTS PLAY A PART IN FLORIDA SPECIAL ELECTION: Reporting showed that the escalating property insurance crisis was an important topic in Florida’s special election this week.
Florida Politics: Democrat Emily Gregory wins Special Election for HD 87 in Palm Beach County
“Her platform centered on increasing public education funding, expanding access to health care and addressing rising property insurance and housing costs.”
The Down Ballot: Florida Democrats just picked up a second seat in Tuesday's special elections
“Nathan focused on improving public education and addressing soaring property insurance rates...”
Florida now ranks as the third most expensive state for home insurance, as climate-driven extreme weather continues to drive premiums higher and companies pull back on coverage.
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
Yale Law Journal: The Uninsurable Future: The Climate Threat to Property Insurance, and How to Stop It
###
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.
