California homeowners having trouble finding insurance
California homeowners whose properties were spared during California's Butte wildfire four years ago are paying extra for it now, according to a new report by CNN.
Home insurance rates in the Mountain Ranch area have skyrocketed.
Homeowner Jeff Killeen says the price for coverage in a fire-prone area has become unaffordable for many.
Martin Schaller, another Mountain Ranch homeowner, tells CNN it feels like people are being "forced out" of the neighbourhood.
Some homeowners have been trouble finding coverage altogether.
Earlier this week California's Insurance Commissioner announced more than 340,000 rural homeowners were dropped by their insurance companies over the last four years, arguing that homes in fire-prone areas are "a huge investment."
Karen Yates, an independent insurance broker who helps homeowners find fire insurance, tells CNN it's become harder to find coverage in some areas because insurers need to protect themselves after being hit with billions of dollars in claims.
"It's because those carriers have a heavy saturation in that area, and so they're looking at those losses and looking at those areas and saying, 'we can't continue to write this business. We don't have enough funds to satisfy those losses if they were to happen.'"
Kileem says some of his neighbours have been priced out of the area and are opting to move.
Source: CNN Newswire/KTXL
