Weekly Roundup: U.S. Home Insurance Costs To Rise ~4% This Year; New State Reports Highlight Urgent Need For Policyholder Protections
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2026
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
Weekly Roundup: U.S. Home Insurance Costs To Rise ~4% This Year; New State Reports Highlight Urgent Need For Policyholder Protections
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/ NO RELIEF FOR CONSUMERS IN 2026: New reporting shows U.S. home insurance costs are projected to rise for a fifth consecutive year in 2026, increasing by an average of 4%. Insurers say extreme weather losses and high rebuilding costs are the primary reasons. Since 2021, premiums have surged 46%, far outpacing inflation.
Bloomberg: US Home Insurance Prices Set to Keep Rising With Severe Weather
Grist: Is your state becoming uninsurable? We have the latest data.
2/ MAPPING STATE REGULATION – AND REGULATORS’ ‘COZY RELATIONSHIPS’: This week, the Revolving Door Project published two resources to help illuminate some regulatory factors that are exacerbating the climate-driven home insurance crisis.
A series of interactive maps and tables lays out how different state regulatory standards and variations in regulatory capacity make reform more difficult to achieve. And a new database and report demonstrates the close ties between current and recent regulators and the industry.
Kenny Stacil, Deputy Research Director at the Revolving Door Project: “State-based variation in rate regulation means that insurers charge higher premiums in the states where less stringent review processes make it easier to do so. Insurers often complain that higher regulation states are preventing them from charging accurate (i.e., higher) prices, sometimes justifying underwriting pullbacks or threatening further ones on these grounds—an attempt to bully officials into accepting deregulation or premium hikes.”
3/ FEDERAL AGENCIES WILL LEAVE HOMEOWNERS UNDERPROTECTED: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will now allow mortgages backed by cheaper “actual cash value” roof insurance rather than full replacement coverage. That means even after a disaster payout, many homeowners still would not be able to afford to repair or rebuild.
Newsweek: Fannie And Freddie Unveil Major Boost For Condo Owners
Politico: Fannie and Freddie accepting cheaper roof insurance
ABA Banking Journal: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac ease certain property insurance requirements
4/ HAWAI’I FLOODING UNDERSCORES IMPACT OF SB 3000 DEFEAT: This week’s flooding, with more severe weather on the way, comes in the wake of the legislature’s rejection of the SB 3000 insurance reform bill earlier this month after Big Oil lobbyists weighed in.
The bill would have held polluters liable for climate-attributable harm, and generated funding for property- and community-level adaptation projects that could help mitigate the impact of weather events like these.
The 2023 Maui wildfires have sent Hawai’i premiums spiking by as much as 50%, and weather events like this week’s floods will only accelerate Hawai’i’s home insurance crisis. That’s why tools like SB 3000 are such an important part of the overall strategy to shift risk from homeowners back to the companies whose emissions are driving climate-driven extreme weather in the first place.
5/ LOUISIANA CRISIS ESCALATES: A new report from Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) highlights the severity of Louisiana's home insurance crisis. Since 2019, home insurance premiums in the state have surged by 34.6% and the state now has the second-highest home insurance costs nationwide.
Following the release of the report, UAF hosted a press call to address Louisiana's escalating home insurance crisis. Speakers included Louisiana officials, consumer advocates, experts, and homeowners. The discussion centered on how limited policyholder protections and weak oversight enable insurance corporations to reduce coverage while extracting wealth from homeowners.
KTAL News: Louisiana insurers accused of exploiting homeowners in report
Unlocking America's Future: REPORT: Louisiana's Insurance Crisis Leaves Homeowners Exploited While Insurance Companies Turn Massive Profits
Unlocking America’s Future: WATCH: Louisiana Officials, Advocates & Other Experts Call For Accountability After New Louisiana Home Insurance Report
“After Hurricane Laura and Delta destroyed my home, I thought having insurance meant I’d be able to rebuild and move forward,” said JoAnn McArthur, a Southwest Louisiana resident. “Instead, it turned into years of fighting claims, losing coverage, and watching my premium jump to thousands of dollars for far less protection. No family that’s already survived a disaster should have to go through that just to keep a roof over their head.”
6/ CA INSURERS CONTINUE FORCING POLICYHOLDERS ONTO PLAN OF LAST RESORT: Insurers are withdrawing from some California neighborhoods previously categorized as "low-risk” — driving up enrollment surge in the state's last-resort FAIR Plan, which was never intended to cover the general homeowner population.
Bloomberg: Even Low-Risk Homes Are Caught Up in California’s Climate Insurance Crisis
“The FAIR Plan was never designed to be as good as the protection that you can get in the private market because we don’t want people on FAIR,” said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a San Francisco nonprofit that advocates for homeowners.
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
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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.
