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NEW ORLEANS - Today, Councilmember Helena Moreno, State Representative Mandie Landry (District 91), and Assessor Erroll Williams joined together to call on incoming Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple to increase funding for the Louisiana Fortified Roofs program and focus specific funding on vulnerable populations, especially fixed-income seniors. The Fortified Roofs program has worked in other states to decrease home insurance rates by 30-50%, but Louisiana has only been able to fund 3,000 roof replacements – far short of the tens of thousands in need.
“The ongoing insurance affordability crisis has the potential to drive people from their homes, and we need to do everything we can to protect vulnerable homeowners, especially seniors on fixed incomes,” said Councilmember Moreno. “That’s why I’m joining with Representative Landry and Assessor Williams to implore the state to help us focus new scarce resources on homeowners that have already received an age-related assessment freeze and are at clear risk from spiraling home insurance costs.”
“People are going to lose their homes if the state doesn’t do something about homeowners’ insurance immediately,” said State Representative Landry. “We know that a strong fortified roof program will help significantly – we need to fund it properly.”
In Orleans Parish, there are at least 17,248 senior households that have received an age-related assessment freeze, indicating they are on a fixed or limited income and need assistance staying in their homes affordably. The officials are proposing a partnership with the Insurance Commissioner and state legislators to increase funding for the FORTIFIED program and focus those funds on homeowners who are most at risk of an insurance premium-related affordability crisis. Studies by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) estimate that fortified roofs can save homeowners 30-50% on insurance premiums.
Reporting from the Times-Picayune today notes that “Roughly two-thirds of the current fortified homes recipients were from areas where the median income was above the statewide median of $58,000,” and “Nearly 1 in 3 grants went to the highest-income census tracts, where the median income is more than $80,000 a year.”
View the full letter to Commissioner Temple here.
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