The home insurance market is crumbling in New Orleans, leaving Alfredo Herrera with few options for coverage — and skyrocketing insurance premiums.
Herrera, 35, works in finance for a local bank. He bought his 900-square-foot home in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood in 2020 for $270,000, and lives there with his partner.
In 2022, he paid $1,600 a year for home insurance. But last July, his insurer canceled his coverage, saying it was leaving Louisiana.
In the past, acquiring or keeping homeowners’ insurance didn’t present much of a problem.
But as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather, insurers — especially those in areas most impacted by floods and fires — are raising their premiums, or pulling out altogether, impacting the affordability and availability of home and fire insurance.
I can’t really say what will happen. Neither can anybody really. Maybe the government should step in, maybe they shouldn’t. Corporations should be paying it, but obviously, that’s not happening either. People have abandoned everything and moved before. People headed here from the 1600’s and never stopped, in the 1800’s they headed west. Owning property holds a certain amount of risk that people need to accept.