It was 2019 when Anjali Tierra decided that homeowners insurance wasn’t worth the price.
The retired high school teacher, 58, took out a policy in late 2018 after purchasing a three-bedroom home nestled in the Tehachapi Mountains of southern California. She considered the insurance affordable at less than $100 a month, and the coverage brought her peace of mind while living in a “very high” fire hazard severity zone.
But the following year, when Tierra’s insurance provider sent her a renewal notice, she learned her monthly payment had jumped to $350 – more than what she was comfortable paying with the $3,500 she gets each month from her pension. She dropped the insurance policy, assuming she would find affordable coverage somewhere else.
Her search turned up empty. She’s been without homeowners insurance ever since.
“Every year, usually in the springtime, I will start to do the research again,” she said. “I will just randomly choose an insurance company to see if they’ll cover me. And since 2019, I’ve been rejected by every single insurance company, large and small.”
Tierra is among a growing number of American homeowners who are “going bare,” or living without homeowners insurance. A recent study from the Insurance Information Institute found 12% of Americans no longer have home insurance, up from 5% in 2019.
It’s the highest level of uninsured homeowners the industry-funded research group has seen, and follows a dramatic spike in the cost of coverage.
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