Document Type
Article
Publication
UC Irvine Law Review
Year
2025
Citation Information
Michael Pappas, Climate Last Resorts (forthcoming, UC Irvine L. Rev., Dec. 2025)
Abstract
The United States faces a climate crisis, an affordable housing crisis, and, linking them both, an insurance crisis. At the intersection of these concurrent predicaments lie a set of little-known but surprisingly impactful policies: state Insurer of Last Resort ("ILR") programs. ILRs are state policies that provide property insurance when private insurance is unavailable, such as when private insurers determine that climate hazards are too risky to underwrite.
This Article argues that long-overlooked ILR programs are quickly becoming lynchpins for addressing some of today’s most pressing concerns around climate, housing, and insurance. Accordingly, ILRs bear urgent attention and reevaluation. In short, ILR programs are likely the most important policies that you've never heard of.
Building on this observation, the Article makes three main contributions. First, it identifies the power of ILR programs as intersectional policy responses to the concurrent insurance, climate, and housing crises.
Second, it surveys existing ILR policies, finding that they are relics of sixty-year-old decisions, and that states have seemingly overlooked the opportunities ILRs provide for tailored responses to insurance, climate, and housing concerns.
Third, it analyzes insurance data and state climate policy trends to show that many legacy ILR programs appear out of step with insurance withdrawal threats and state climate policy preferences. This suggests that states should consider revising their ILR programs in the near future.
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