State Farm and Allstate Pull out of California Homeowners Insurance Market

KQED's Forum

Citing an increased risk of natural disasters, two of California’s largest property insurers, State Farm and Allstate, are no longer selling new homeowners insurance in the state. Insurers have been shrinking their coverage areas in California for the last few years, especially in wildfire-prone regions, but the latest moves signal just how much insurers are accounting for the increasing costs of climate change. We’ll talk about the impact on homeowners, homebuilders and would-be home buyers and how the state is responding.

Guests:

Ivan Penn , Los Angeles-based reporter covering alternative energy, The New York Times.

Michael Wara, policy director for the Sustainability Accelerator at the Doerr School of Sustainability and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and senior research scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University

Kimiko Barrett, research and policy analyst, Headwater Economics

Ricardo Lara, Insurance Commissioner of California