FACT SHEET: The Home Insurance Crisis and Black Homeowners

The national property insurance crisis is hitting all Americans—but it is disproportionately harming Black homeowners, threatening homeownership stability, financial security, and the ability to build and pass down generational wealth.

1. Insurance Costs Are Skyrocketing Nationwide—And Black Families Are Feeling It Most

• Home insurance premiums rose in 95% of U.S. zip codes between 2021 and 2024, leaving more homeowners underinsured or uninsured.
  
• Climate change and extreme weather are driving insurers to raise rates, limit coverage, or abandon markets, especially in the Southeast, where Black homeownership rates are highest.
  
• Higher premiums also reduce home values—by as much as $40,000 in the most climate-exposed communities.
• Rising premiums are pricing many Black families out of protection they cannot afford to lose. Research shows that every $500 increase in annual insurance premiums raises mortgage delinquency risk by 20% and can reduce home values by tens of thousands of dollars—directly eroding Black family wealth.

Key takeaway: The climate change fueled insurance crisis is deepening the racial wealth equity gap for Black homeowners. 

2. Black Homeowners Are Spending More on Insurance and Are More Likely to Be Uninsured

• Rising home insurance rates also contribute to a disproportionate amount of Black households being cost-burdened compared to other communities. Nationwide, 19% of Black households are cost-burdened, compared to 12% of white households, 17% of Hispanic households, and 18% of Asian households.
• 11% of Black homeowners have no homeowners insurance at all, compared to 7.4% of homeowners nationally.
• That means more than one in ten Black homeowners are one storm, fire, or disaster away from financial devastation.
  

Key takeaway: Being priced out of affordable insurance leaves Black families uniquely exposed to catastrophic loss.

3. Past and Present Discriminatory Practices Place Black Households on the Frontlines of Insurance Crisis 

• Homes in once-redlined neighborhoods are at higher risk of heat exposure and flooding. 
• “Bluelining” is a climate-driven form of financial discrimination where banks and insurers pull out of or increase rates in areas with high risks of climate threats like floods or fires. Decades of redlining pushed Black families into polluted neighborhoods, flood-prone areas and neighborhoods with fewer infrastructure investments for things like wildfire prevention or emergency response.
• Instead of investing in climate resilience, insurance companies are doubling down on a new form of “insurance redlining”  by leveraging algorithms that rely on ZIP codes and credit scores to determine pricing — a practice that disproportionately harms Black communities.

Key takeaway: These practices mean Black homeowners are hit from both sides: they are more likely to live in climate-vulnerable neighborhoods because of past discrimination, and more likely to be priced out of insurance because of present-day discrimination.

4. Insurance Barriers Threaten Black Generational Wealth 

• An estimated 6.8 million acres of land worth $47.3 billion are held as “heirs property”—land passed down informally without clear legal title.
• The heirs property crisis is worsened by gaps in estate planning: nearly 70% of Black homeowners over age 50 do not have a will or trust, compared to just 35% of white homeowners.
• Without formal title, families often cannot obtain insurance, disaster aid, or even sell their property.
• Even when Black families can obtain insurance, heirs property owners often cannot access claims — policies are canceled after an owner’s death, payments are delayed, or checks are issued to “the estate,” leaving families unable to rebuild.
• 44% or more of Black household wealth is tied to home equity, and more than 90% of Black wealth gains from 2013–2022 came from homeownership.

Key takeaway: When insurance becomes inaccessible, Black wealth disappears.

5. Entire Black Communities Are Being Destabilized by Policy Cancellations and Rate Hikes

• In Mississippi—where roughly 58% of homeowners are Black—more than 3,200 insurance policies have already been canceled due to extreme weather risk.
  
• In North Carolina, over 10,000 policies have been canceled, worsening an existing Black home value gap.
  
• In Louisiana, insurers approved a 63% rate increase in 2023, devastating a state with above-average Black homeownership.

Key takeaway: Mass cancellations and extreme rate hikes are accelerating neighborhood disinvestment in Black communities.

BOTTOM LINE

The home insurance crisis is not race-neutral. It is magnifying decades of housing discrimination, draining Black wealth, and putting millions of families at risk of losing their greatest financial asset.