In recent years, major wildfires and floods have become nearly annual occurrences in California, resulting in billions of dollars in property damage and economic losses. As these disasters grow more frequent and severe, insurance costs are also rising. Research shows that being fully insured is the single most important factor in a household’s ability to rebuild or repair their home after a disaster. At the same time, insurance can serve as a powerful tool to encourage households and communities to reduce their exposure to hazard risks. To improve resilience, communities and households need a clearer understanding of both their physical and financial risks from natural hazards like wildfires and floods, as well as practical tools to reduce those risks and close insurance protection gaps.
This program helps address the rising cost of insurance and insurance gaps in disaster-impacted areas. The purpose of the program is to implement a Planning Project that will look at the current insurance market in the most impacted distressed areas (MIDs), assess gaps, and look at possible solutions for communities to consider. These solutions will focus on how risk reduction actions can be paired with insurance products or incentives to promote community resilience and at-risk communities. Eligible communities are the most impacted and distressed (MID) areas for the extreme winter storms, flooding, mudslides, and landslides in 2023 and 2024 (DR-4699, DR-4707, and DR-4758), including Monterey, San Benito, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Tulare, and Tuolumne counties, and the Hoopa Valley Tribe.
2023/2024 — Insurance Resilience Planning Program (IRPP)