Insurance and Mother Nature: How does losing insurance options affect disaster philanthropy?

Insurance is an incredibly helpful resource for families after a disaster, but not everyone can afford it. Many mortgage brokers and banks require insurance to approve home loans. Increasingly, insurance companies cannot keep up with the impact of multiple climate crises, leaving many homeowners facing substantial increases or turning to state-run insurance plans.
Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado and Arizona are just a few of the states facing an insurance crisis. As climate change leads to more frequent and bigger disasters, the number of states implicated will continue to increase. What are the solutions? Are our state-run insurance plans sufficient, or do we need more national insurance programs like the National Flood Insurance Program? What is the role of funders in helping to fill the affordability gap?
In this webinar, donors will:
- Draw a link between the climate crisis and insurance-related housing unaffordability.
- Understand how the insurance crisis affects individuals, especially in disaster-prone states.
- Explore a suite of ideas to assist homeowners and renters and understand the role of funders in helping to implement them.
While primarily aimed at funders, it may also interest emergency managers, government staff, academics, disaster responders and nongovernmental organization staff who are interested in or working on disasters and other crises.
CDP’s Midwest Early Recovery Fund Director, Cari Cullen, moderated the discussion.
Panelists were:
- Amy Bach, Co-founder and Executive Director, United Policyholders
- Carolyn Kousky, Associate Vice President for Economics and Policy, Environmental Defense Fund, and Author
This webinar was co-sponsored by Giving Compass, Philanthropy New York and Philanthropy California.