Declarations

“Consumer protection laws need to keep pace with changes in the marketplace. Data mining and information sharing by insurance companies has put consumers at a costly disadvantage that needs to be remedied. State regulators and lawmakers don’t have to reinvent the wheel to fix this problem. A number of states have it right. Others can easily follow.”

— Amy Bach, executive director at United Policyholders, stated in a press release announcing a new report by the Rutgers Center for Risk and Responsibility at Rutgers Law School in Camden, N.J., in cooperation with United Policyholders. The report offers recommendations to state lawmakers in terms of how homeowners insurance claims are addressed by insurance companies following a loss.

“The zoning code of the city of Miami is very clear — any commercial intrusion in the residential, single-family homes is illegal and code compliance will go after those residents.”

— Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, who is currently battling with home-sharing platforms like Airbnb over regulations prohibiting rentals of single-family homes in the city’s residential areas. The mayor is pushing for increased regulations and pledged to crackdown on short-term rentals.

“Soaring rents and housing costs are driving people into places like the Ghost Ship.”

— Edwin Bernbaun, who’s 34-year-old son, Jonathan, died in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, is one of several family members of victims calling for zoning law reforms and financial support of artists driven to live and work in dangerous buildings because of high urban rents.

“If you’re in northern North Dakota, or in the Snake River basin in Idaho, prepare for moderate to major flooding this spring.”

— Tom Graziano, Ph.D., director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Office of Water Prediction. Northern North Dakota — the Souris River, Devils Lake and the northernmost reaches of the Red River — has the greatest risk of major flooding this spring, according to NOAA’s Spring Outlook.

“We have a product whose pricing hasn’t been able to support the losses.”

— Ed Schreiber, Houston region president for Bancorp South GEM Insurance Services, which sells federal flood policies, comments on the expectation that Houston-area homeowners are likely to see a hike in flood insurance policies this year. The U.S. Government Accountability Office noted in a recent report that the federal initiative “offers rates that do not fully reflect the risk of flooding.” Harris County alone has 9,700 “repetitive loss” properties, or homes for which two or more flood insurance claims of more than $1,000 have been filed within 10 years.