More Californians lose home insurance due to wildfire risk, official says

California’s insurance commissioner hosted a virtual hearing Monday after seeing an increase of insurance companies not renewing policies for homes in high-risk wildfire areas.Ricardo Lara said the unprecedented wildfires made getting homeowners insurance more difficult and expensive for many Californians living in rural areas.”I’ve heard your nightmarish fears of losing everything that is precious to you despite your heroic efforts to protect your homes, families and communities from these wildfires and the unfathomable frustrations endured over losing your insurance anyway — even after everything you’ve done to protect your home and despite all the actions that you took to reduce the risk and stay insurable.”According to the California Department of Insurance, the number of insurance plans that were not renewed last year was up 31{de3fc13d4eb210e6ea91a63b91641ad51ecf4a1f1306988bf846a537e7024eeb} compared to 2018.For those who can’t find an insurance policy, there’s the California Fair Plan, which provides insurance as a last resort.The number of fair plan policies was up 36{de3fc13d4eb210e6ea91a63b91641ad51ecf4a1f1306988bf846a537e7024eeb} in 2019 from the year before.Lara said the goal of the virtual meeting was to develop standards homeowners should take to protect their homes and apply them to all insurance companies, create insurance incentives for people who take those steps and give transparency to homeowners about their wildfire risk score — and how they can reduce it.