CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Climate Change Kills Homeowner’s Insurance

Photo by Roger Starnes Sr

The climate catastrophe not only kills people with fires and floods, it also bankrupts them by annihilating their homes – many uninsured. Why no insurance? Because of climate change – a perfectly horrible repeating loop. Our inside the Beltway gang may not know about the climate catastrophe, but insurance companies sure do – they know which way the wind blows, and it blows toward a hotter, more inhospitable and downright dangerous planet.

By May 22, per the National Interagency Fire Center, “18 uncontained large fires are currently burning nationwide,” requiring over 5000 firefighters to contain them. “So far this year, 29,023 fires have burned more than 2.3 million acres nationwide…the [California]Santa Rosa Island Fire…has grown to 18,379 acres. Evacuations are in effect on fires in Southern California and the Southwest, where the Seven Cabins Fire in New Mexico has burned 17,116 acres.” This agency does not speculate about how many of these numerous blazes are due to climate change, but an informed guess would put that at a big percentage. And who’s making that informed guess? Homeowner’s insurance companies, where, according to the New York Times November 19, 2025, climate change has sent premiums skyrocketing, home values falling and moderate-income owners screwed.

As has been well publicized, many homes in Pacific Palisades that burnt to the ground in the 2025 Los Angeles-area inferno lacked homeowner’s insurance. They had none because companies like Allstate were busily cancelling policies over the past few years, precisely because they understood very well the climate that capitalism damaged would cause costly disasters, and they didn’t want to be on the hook for them. This happens not just in California but also especially in Florida, Louisiana and Texas; and homeowner’s insurance cancellation is very likely soon coming to a district near you.

Four ways climate change impacts home insurance were noted by the Environmental Defense Fund on March 10. They are: skyrocketing premiums; insurance scarcity; people relying on ‘insurers of last resort;’ and homeowners taking on more risk. It should also be noted that the public sector........

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