Report Finds That Communities of Color in NYS May Have Inadequate Access to Homeowner's Insurance
For Immediate Release
May 21, 2009
Contact: Barbara van Kerkhove, (585) 454-4060
Ruhi Maker, (585) 454-4060
Analysis by Empire Justice Center suggests that minority communities and neighborhoods with high vacancy rates have higher concentrations of “insurance of last resort.”
Rochester, N.Y - Empire Justice Center today released its analysis of residential property insurance in New York State. The analysis found that many areas in New York with higher concentrations of residential FAIR (FAIR Access to Insurance Requirements) Plan policies are also communities of color. FAIR Plan policies are the insurance of last resort for homeowners and businesses unable to obtain insurance in the private market. On average, FAIR Plan policies tend to provide more limited coverage and cost more than policies from private insurers.
The report was developed using a one-time data set acquired from the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association (NYPIUA).
Empire Justice’s findings suggest that African-American and Latino communities and neighborhoods with high vacancy rates may have less access to property insurance from private insurers than other communities.
“Due to the lack of publicly available data about the private insurance market, our findings can only be characterized as ‘red flags.’ The limited conclusions we can reach with the FAIR Plan data just provide more support for a recommendation Empire Justice Center has been making for years. The public needs to be able to access data on where and to whom residential property insurers are writing policies so we can identify areas where there are problems with access to private market coverage that need to be addressed,” said Barbara van Kerkhove, a policy analyst in Empire Justice Center’s Rochester office. Ms. van Kerkhove conducted the analysis while a Consumer Representative on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Consumer Liaison Committee.
Empire Justice has heard from homeowners in lower-income and minority communities in the Rochester area, as well as in other areas of the state, frustrated with their inability to get or keep quality, affordable homeowner’s insurance. “This evidence is anecdotal, however,” notes Ruhi Maker, a senior attorney in the Rochester office. “It’s very similar to what community groups were hearing about before the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) was enacted. We need a requirement for insurers that is similar to the 35 year-old law requiring mortgage lenders to publicly disclose their lending information. HMDA was one of the keys to stopping mortgage lending redlining in this country.”
“There are business opportunities for insurers out there. The data will help us further examine the concerns we’ve identified and have been told about, and we will then be able to help insurers find and take advantage of opportunities created by the existing holes in the market,” added Ms. van Kerkhove.
Empire Justice Center has requested additional FAIR Plan data from NYPIUA to update its report and hopes to receive the data and begin the new analysis soon.
Empire Justice is a non-profit legal services organization with offices in Albany, Rochester, White Plains and Central Islip that provides support and training to legal services offices statewide, undertakes policy research and analysis, and engages in legislative and administrative advocacy. The organization also represents low-income individuals, as well as classes of New Yorkers, in a wide range of poverty law areas.
