The home insurance market is crumbling in New Orleans, leaving Alfredo Herrera with few options for coverage — and skyrocketing insurance premiums.

Herrera, 35, works in finance for a local bank. He bought his 900-square-foot home in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood in 2020 for $270,000, and lives there with his partner.

In 2022, he paid $1,600 a year for home insurance. But last July, his insurer canceled his coverage, saying it was leaving Louisiana.

In the past, acquiring or keeping homeowners’ insurance didn’t present much of a problem.

But as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather, insurers — especially those in areas most impacted by floods and fires — are raising their premiums, or pulling out altogether, impacting the affordability and availability of home and fire insurance.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    7 months ago

    Hot take: all severe/extreme-risk flood zone properties should be immediately rezoned to disallow residential use.

    I mean, you can make houses flood-resistant. It costs more, but it’s not new technology.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilt_house

    As the costs of hurricane damage increase, more and more houses along the Gulf Coast are being built as or converted to stilt houses.[15]

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      That doesn’t really work, if you might lose the beach under your stilts. It’s probably still better to manage getting people out of an area that needs it, rather than paying g for another temporary solution

      • Yokozuna@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Just YouTube some news pieces about climate change and Grand Isle, those turds literally have said they aren’t going anywhere till the last piece of land is underwater. Literal hubris of man.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I guess no one wants to leave their home, but it’s crazy to stay there, and it’s well past the point where they shouldn’t have a choice

          • Yokozuna@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I mean, if idiots want to live there and own the property, that’s on them. But those are the same people who vote red and I 100% believe that when push comes to shove and they lose everything (again) they’ll be looking for government assistance.