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.
If the price is inflated someone ought to start an insurance company to cover those folks for less and arbitage themselves into vast riches for all these underserved folks. More likely the prices reflect reality and they should pay them.
I don’t know what’s going on the home owners side, but almost half of that is the highest flood insurance rate possible. (So a super high risk area) the flood rates are managed and get capped out. It’s what enrages anyone around an inland plane. My 1 every 100 year flood coverage for an overflow brook costs 75% the rate of a coastal home that’s likely to end up entirely in the ocean in the next decade.