A trifecta of crises—accelerating climate change, a scarcity of affordable housing and escalating insurance rates—are threatening the one place where people usually feel secure: their homes.
“The cost of property insurance was a topic most people ignored, but it’s now a kitchen table economic issue for many families, and a risk factor for the housing market,” said Sarah Edelman, former deputy assistant secretary for single family housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Current homeowners are more likely to become delinquent on their mortgages after an insurance premium increase. Prospective buyers can’t find or afford homes. Developers can’t bring new units to market. And operating costs for landlords can reach an unsustainable level, Edelman said, with effects trickling down to real estate agents, the lenders, mortgage services—the entire housing ecosystem.
Compounded by climate change, the insurance crisis could destabilize the entire financial system, said Anne Perrault, senior policy counsel for the Climate Program at Public Citizen. ”In some ways, it’s just the beginning of a death spiral for some regions of our country.”
Of course it will. While everyone is busy trying to prevent usa’s orange clown from destroying the world, no nation cares about climate change. In a couple years, the climate refugee crisis will begin, it will be something like we’ve never seen before, mark my words.
This is indeed the biggest near term cost/impact of global warming. Sea level rise is a mostly slow process, though that too will show up in insurance rates before property is condemned. Much of the slash and burn to federal agencies is simply downloading costs towards states, municipalities, and private insurance. It is not societal savings, in addition to eliminating generally useful functions that cost more if duplicated at each state level.
And something similar is happening with cars. Flooding, wildfire, storms and affordable car insurance do not mix well.
So, what’s the bad news?
That is just the beginning. The endpoints of the global warming feedback loops is the end of most life on Earth. But sure, focus on the money, that’s where America’s nerve endings all are.
Money money money power, all the way to extinction.
Insurers take the first hit, but pass those costs to homeowners
Isn’t it the whole point of insurance? Spread the cost of reconstruction over a large number of people, over some period of time.
If climate change frequently destroy a large part of homes in an area, then living there won’t be viable, with or without insurance.
