Homeowners in the City of Oakland face significant barriers for accessing and maintaining wildfire insurance. The number of policies that are non-renewed continues to grow and expand to geographic locations in the city that were previously considered insurable by carriers. The inability of homeowners to access insurance has several negative implications, including the erosion of communities’ financial resilience. Without layers of financial protection, the capacity of homeowners to protect themselves against, re
This report shares results of the Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship project. The intention of the Fellowship project and this report was to bring private and public sector expertise together to provide insights on the wildfire insurance market and practical recommendations to increase the availability and affordability of effective risk transfer products for homeowners.
This report outlines the findings from Oakland’s experience in the Fellowship and focuses on local action to influence insurance policies and improve collaboration between the public sector and insurers.
While affordability remains an important consideration, the report notes that insurance policies will likely only become more affordable when there is more competition in the market because of increased accessibility.
About the Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship
The Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship was established in 2022 through a strategic partnership between Howden, Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities), and the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI). The Fellowship is a first of its kind program that connects insurance professionals (the ‘Fellows’) from Howden and the wider insurance market with city leaders to develop urban resilience solutions that leverage insurance sector data and expertise over a 3–6-month period.
The objective of the Fellowship is to support city leaders – across the globe – to understand how they can use insurance as part of their toolkit to manage climate risks.