State Farm Insurance to Withdraw from California

PRESS RELEASE

STATE FARM INSURANCE’S WITHDRAWAL FROM THE CALIFORNIA MARKET WILL RESULT IN DECREASED HOUSING AFFORDABILITY FOR CALIFORNIANS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. –  The California Rental Housing Association (CalRHA) today released the following statement in response to the announcement that California’s largest home insurer, State Farm Insurance, plans to not renew 42,000 commercial apartment policies. These plans are what covers property and liability for apartment building owners.

“State Farm’s announcement to not renew tens of thousands of homeowners and commercial policies will have crippling effects across the rental housing market,” said Earle Vaughan, President, CalRHA. “This news will drive up, yet again, another operating cost for California’s rental housing providers who house millions of Californians. With the state’s largest insurer leaving the market, the law of supply and demand shows we should expect only higher rates from here. We can’t continue to absorb increasing operating costs. Another rate increase will decrease housing affordability.”

CalRHA has been working in partnership with Commissioner Lara and the California Department of Insurance over the past year to support state and local funding for wildfire mitigation, to help ensure the FAIR plan has adequate reserves and reinsurance to cover losses, and speed up the adjudication of insurance rate filings.

These necessary steps will help ease the burden of cost and help make housing more affordable in high costs areas. Expedited insurance rate filings will help improve regulatory certainty and make it practical for insurers to do business in California.

CalRHA will be meeting with the department in the coming weeks and looks forward to the continued work to address rental housing providers’ concerns in a timely manner.

About the California Rental Housing Association
The California Rental Housing Association represents 24,000+ members totaling more than 675,000+ units, made up of small, medium, and large rental housing owners throughout the State of California. Our purpose is to advocate in the best interest of the rental housing industry and collectively address industry needs.

Media Contact:  Keegan Coleman, (714) 916-2546, keegan@elevatepublicaffairs.com

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