California and Florida have seen some of the sharpest upticks in private home insurers dropping policies.
Joe Sohm/Getty Images
Homeowners are increasingly being dropped by their private home insurers.
Regions with the highest nonrenewal rates are most prone to wildfires, hurricanes, and other disasters.
A new Senate report warns of economic risks as climate change destabilizes insurance markets.
Homeowners across the country are increasingly facing a stark new reality: they're losing their home insurance.
The share of home insurance policies from large insurers that weren't renewed increased last year in 46 states, a report released Wednesday by the Senate Budget Committee found. The increasing frequency and intensity of disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding and the rising cost of rebuilding have pushed many insurers to drop customers or hike premiums. This has left thousands of homeowners scrambling to find new insurance policies or joining the growing ranks of those going without insurance.
More than 200 counties saw their non-renewal rates spike threefold between 2018 and 2023. Counties in Northern California and South Florida saw among the highest rates of nonrenewals. Coastal counties in Massachusetts, Mississippi, and North Carolina also saw dropped policies soar. Manhattan ranks 20th, with rates of dropped policies rising from 1.25% in 2018 to 4.11% in 2023.
The national scale of home insurance nonrenewals was previously unknown because insurance companies are regulated at the state level. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners said not all states collect granular data about the availability and affordability of coverage in some areas. The association in March announced an effort with state insurance regulators to try to fill the gap.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse launched his own investigation into the homeowners' insurance market last year. He received nonrenewal data from 23 companies accounting for about two-thirds of the market. In testimony on Wednesday, Whitehouse said he demanded nonrenewal data because experts suggested policies being dropped were an early warning sign of market destabilization. He also said they correlated with higher premiums.
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association, a lobbying group representing insurance companies, said nonrenewal data doesn't provide "relevant information" on climate risks. Many factors, including a state's litigation and regulatory environment, factor into nonrenewal decisions, the association said.
The association added that more costly weather disasters, combined with inflation and overbuilding in climate-risk regions, are making insurance less affordable for many Americans.
Home insurance premiums are rising in many regions across the country. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently reported that average home insurance premiums spiked by 13%, adjusted for inflation, between 2020 and 2023.
Most mortgage lenders require homeowners to purchase insurance, and some require additional insurance for specific disasters, including flooding. Insurers refusing to offer coverage can hurt home values because homes that can't be insured in the private market are less desirable to potential buyers.
The Senate Budget report warned that the insurance crisis will get worse as the climate crisis fuels more frequent and destructive disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding. A destabilized insurance market could "trigger cascading economy-wide financial upheaval," the report said.
"The failure to deal with climate change isn't just driving up the cost of homeowners' insurance, it's making it harder for families to even find homeowners' insurance, and that makes it harder to get a mortgage," Whitehouse said in a statement to Business Insider. "When the pool of buyers is limited to only those who can pay cash, it cuts off pathways to homeownership—particularly for first-time homebuyers—and risks cascading into a crash in property values that trashes the entire economy."
Have you been dropped by your home insurance company or are you facing a steep premium increase? Email these reporters to share your story: [email protected] and [email protected].
The White House has announced that President Biden signed a stopgap funding bill into law on Saturday, extending government funding into March and avoiding a shutdown.
The bill provides over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. There was also a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers in the bill.
The Senate worked into early Saturday morning to pass the bill 85-11, just after the deadline following a chaotic week on Capitol Hill.
President Biden has not yet publicly commented on the passage of the legislation.
"H.R. 10545, the ‘American Relief Act, 2025,’ which provides fiscal year 2025 appropriations to Federal agencies through March 14, 2025, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government; provides disaster relief appropriations and economic assistance to farmers; extends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018; and extends several expiring authorities," a White House statement reads.
President-elect Trump has not spoken publicly since the bill’s passage either, although sources tell Fox that the incoming president is not that happy about the bill because it does not suspend the debt ceiling.
Trump had called on Republicans to act on the debt limit as part of their talks to avert a government shutdown, a demand that dozens of conservative GOP lawmakers bristled at given their concerns about the national debt — which has exceeded $36 trillion.
A bulging 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) was thrown into disarray earlier in the week following objections by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. A slimmed-down version was then rejected by House members on Thursday before the House approved Speaker Mike Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly by 366 votes to 34 on Friday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned on Friday that a shutdown could have disrupted the incoming administration's presidential transition process.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the passage of the funding legislation early Saturday.
"There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas," Schumer wrote on X. "We will keep the government open with a bipartisan bill that funds the government, helps Americans affected by hurricanes and natural disasters, helps our farmers and avoids harmful cuts.
Fox News' Julia Johnson and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Realtor Patti DiMarco's home in Babcock Ranch, Florida.
Courtesy of Patti DiMarco
Realtor Patti DiMarco, 76, moved to Babcock Ranch after increasing concerns over hurricane damage.
She purchased a $480,000 three-bedroom home and moved in two weeks after her first visit.
DiMarco says she felt safe during the most recent hurricane season.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Patti DiMarco, a 76-year-old Realtor who splits her time between New Jersey and Florida. After increasing concerns over hurricane damage and rising insurance costs, DiMarco moved to the 'hurricane-resistant' community of Babcock Ranch.
Located 20 minutes north of Fort Myers, Babcock Ranch was built on land 30 feet above sea level. Developers took precautions for extreme weather events, like designing smart lakes to combat flooding and burying utilities underground. Babcock Ranch's field house, designed to withstand 150 mph wind gusts, also serves as an evacuation shelter for surrounding areas during a hurricane.
I used to live in a gated community in Naples, Florida, about three miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The homes were of various types, including condos with carports, condos with garages, and single-family homes. I lived in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home that I purchased for $238,000.
My concerns started with the 2018 Surfside building collapse. After that tragedy, the Florida legislature required all condominium and homeowners associations to modify their accounting. They needed more cash for replacement costs, which would impact owners. I believed I would eventually get hit with a big assessment.
Then, there were the hurricanes. I was on the condominium association board, so I dealt with all the issues and the damage. I started to feel like it was becoming too much to manage. During Hurricane Irma in 2017, seven of our homes lost their roofs, and several people lost their cars. During Hurricane Ian in 2022, 18 garages were damaged.
I started to think, 'Where else do I want to live?' I wanted to stay in Florida but find a better situation. One of my grandchildren studied Babcock Ranch as part of a college course on sustainability. It inspired me to visit.
I visited Babcock Ranch for the first time in December 2023. I moved in two weeks later.
Babcock Ranch is 90 minutes north of DiMarco's old home in Naples, Florida.
Courtesy of Babcock Ranch
Last December, I visited Babcock Ranch, Florida. I toured it, returned the next day, bought the house, and moved in two weeks later.
I've been a Realtor for almost 50 years. When it's right, you just know.
Purchased for $480,000, it has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a den, and a two-car garage. Although I'm in a golf course community and don't play golf, I like the open space.
Settling into Babcock was easy. I unpacked my stuff and went to the pool the next day. The facilities and each of the different neighborhoods are very welcoming, and the people in the neighborhoods are also nice.
There's so much attention to detail in the community. With the utilities being underground, the smart lakes absorbing water, and even the lakes' overflow designed to flow into the street instead of houses, I feel very safe in the event of a hurricane.
My flood insurance costs around $600 per year, and neighbors have told me that I may even be able to abandon it once the final elevation readings are completed.
For the past hurricane season, I didn't worry at all. I was still in New Jersey and hadn't come down yet. Still, there was a Ring camera on my doorbell, and during the storm all I saw in the video was a little palm tree blow. It was just very reassuring.
I was speaking with my neighbors here, and one of them, in particular, was very nervous. She had just moved and hadn't been through a hurricane season. I kept telling her, 'If they didn't think you were safe here, they would be telling you to leave,' but it's the reverse. They're bringing people to Babcock for shelter.
I miss some of the shopping in Naples, but I don't mind zipping around in my golf cart
Babcock Ranch has solar-powered technology that regulates the property's lakes.
Courtesy of Babcock Ranch
The people here are a total variety. There are young families, retired folks, people working remotely, and people working in Cape Coral, about an hour away.
The geographic areas where people are coming from are also very diverse. I've met many people from the Midwest, but I've also met people from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
I don't miss being closer to the shoreline, but I miss some of the restaurants and shopping I had in Naples. New stores are coming here, though. We have a larger shopping district opening next year.
On the other hand, I drive my golf cart everywhere. I do my errands and then flip back to the pool and restaurants. It's like living in a little village from a Hallmark movie.
The 2024 Heisman Trophy finalists were announced on Monday, and two frontrunners are officially in the mix.
Colorado’s two-way star Travis Hunter and Boise State’s bruising running back Ashton Jeanty are considered the two favorites to win the award, while quarterback Dillon Gabriel of Oregon and Cam Ward of Miami round out the quartet.
This has been a thrilling college football season in the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff. But while his Buffaloes won’t be playing for a national title, Hunter’s efforts alongside the potential first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders, has led to a successful Colorado season.
Hunter is the heavy favorite to win the Heisman, as he’s simply doing something that no one in college football has: play on both sides of the ball.
Hunter played full-time on offense and defense, and he finished in the top five in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and passes defended. Pro Football Focus also gave him the top coverage grade this season as well.
On offense, Hunter had 92 receptions for 1,152 yards and 14 receiving touchdowns over 12 games, averaging 96.0 yards through the air per game. And on defense, he defended 11 passes while collecting four interceptions and 32 combined tackles over the same set of games.
Despite Hunter being the overwhelming favorite, it’s simply been a blast to watch Jeanty lead the Broncos all the way to a Mountain West Conference title while earning a bye in the College Football Playoff as the No. 3 seed.
Jeanty led college football in rushing yards (2,497), rushing touchdowns (29), total touchdowns (30) and rush attempts (344) as the Broncos’ offense truly ran through the junior, who is also projected to be a first-rounder come April.
His argument for winning the award over Hunter is the fact that he took a Group of Five school to a CFP bye in his historic season. If he breaks Barry Sanders’ all-time rushing record (2,628), who knows how the voting should shake out.
But there’s only a single No. 1 seed this year in the CFP, and Gabriel’s Ducks are it as his sixth collegiate season has led to more elite production.
Gabriel had 3,558 passing yards and 28 passing touchdowns over his 297 attempts through the air to help the Ducks to an undefeated regular season at 13-0.
The Hawaii native’s best game came against No. 2 Ohio State, where he had 341 yards passing and three total touchdowns, proving Oregon was the team to beat in the Big Ten in its inaugural season in the conference. Oregon went on to beat Penn State to win the Big Ten, and now they’re looking for an undefeated season with a national title attached to it.
Ward, another potential first overall selection in 2025, is about as cool and collected as a quarterback can be in the pocket, which has led to numerous come-from-behind victories for the Hurricanes this season.
He’s also a fantastic college football story, starting at Incarnate Word out of high school, his only offer, and ultimately leading college football with 36 passing touchdowns and finishing second with 4,123 passing yards this year.
Miami wasn’t able to make the CFP this year, but an argument can be made that Ward was the best quarterback in the game this season, which earned him a trip to New York.
The College Football Playoff selection committee has left the Miami Hurricanes frazzled and looking for answers after the penultimate rankings put them on the outside looking in.
The chief complaint being Miami only having two losses compared to Alabama, who was ranked 11th, having three. The Crimson Tide’s losses include one against Oklahoma in which they only scored three points. The Hurricanes also blew a 21-point lead to Syracuse for their second defeat last week.
Miami quarterback Cam Ward, who was thought of as a Heisman Trophy contender, lashed out against the committee on Wednesday.
"We’re playing better defenses, in my opinion, than the SEC," he said on the ACC Network, via On3 Sports. "So, it’s just hard. I did what I could. The team, we controlled what we can control.
"We controlled our own destiny for a lot of the season, and we didn’t end up getting the job done. So, we know it’s all in our hands, and it got taken away from us when we lost, so it’s nothing that we can do about it now but just sit there, be patient and just try to get an opportunity to play for another game."
Ward also doubted how much "tape" officials are watching before putting the rankings together.
"I mean at the end of the day them boys who in that committee, I really doubt they watch tape or not. I mean you can’t, I mean, we’re a 10-2 team. Not saying Alabama’s not a good team, which they are, but let’s talk about them points. That’s probably the biggest factor, I believe."
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said before the rankings were released that the committee should "go to the facts."
Officials saw things differently.
"What it came down to is as we evaluated both teams and looked at how they rank, obviously we think highly of both teams," committee chair Warde Manuel said, via On3 Sports. "One’s at 11, one’s at 12. But what it really came down to is Alabama is 3-1 against current top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami’s 4-2. Both have had some losses that weren’t what they wanted out of those games. But in the last three games, Miami has lost twice."
The Miami Hurricanes’ College Football Playoff fate may have been sealed on Tuesday as they were not among the teams slotted in the penultimate bracket before conference championship weekend.
Miami’s upset loss to the Syracuse Orange had a lot to do with that. The Hurricanes blew a 21-0 lead to eventually lose, 42-38. It was Miami’s second loss in three games, with the other coming against Georgia Tech.
The selection committee listed Miami as the first team on the outside looking in. The three-loss Alabama Crimson Tide was placed in the 11th spot of the bracket. Alabama lost to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma this season.
The ACC may only see one team in the playoffs when all is said and done. SMU was ranked No. 3 in the bracket but may fall out if they lose the conference title game against Clemson. Conference commissioner Jim Phillips said it was disappointing to see Miami go from No. 6 to No. 12.
"Miami has more wins and fewer losses than the team director ahead of them and a dominant victory over an SEC team whose late-season surge includes a win over No. 13 Ole Miss," Phillips said in a statement. "Moreover, with two losses by a combined nine points – to a ranked Syracuse team and a Georgia Tech team that just took No. 5 Georgia to eight overtimes – Miami absolutely deserves better from the Committee.
"As we look ahead to the final rankings, we hope the Committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field. We will continue to look forward to this weekend, when Clemson and SMU have an opportunity to earn an ACC championship and represent the conference n the CFP."
"What it came down to is as we evaluated both teams and looked at how they rank, obviously we think highly of both teams," he said, via On3 Sports. "One’s at 11, one’s at 12. But what it really came down to is Alabama is 3-1 against current top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami’s 4-2. Both have had some losses that weren’t what they wanted out of those games. But in the last three games, Miami has lost twice."
However, Manuel said things could still change depending on how the conference championships play out.
It was a tough weekend for Miami fans, and apparently an even tougher one for their mascot.
CNY Central anchor and reporter Ashley Wenskoski was at "The Dome" on Saturday covering Syracuse’s game against Miami when she called out the Hurricanes’ mascot, Sebastian, for hitting on her on the sidelines.
"Sebastian the Ibis (Miami’s mascot) just kneeled down and asked for my number mid-drive," she wrote in a post on X.
"Feels like he has bigger things to worry about with his team on the ropes in the 4th quarter at the Dome…but who am I to say."
Syracuse knocked Miami out of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game with a 42-38 win on Saturday for the program’s first top-10 win since 2017. Quarterback Kyle McCord completed 26 of 36 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns to help the Orange rally from a 21-point deficit.
With their playoff hopes in the hands of the CFP selection committee, it’s no wonder Sebastian couldn’t focus on the game. Wenskoski seemingly agreed.
"And more importantly, Syracuse football won its biggest game in years & my team and I worked tirelessly to provide the best possible sports coverage," she wrote in a post on X in response to an article about the incident.
"[Head coach] Fran Brown has re-energized a program in a fantastic sports town. I guess Miami's mascot simply couldn't watch that 4th quarter. Can't blame him."
But the mascot did respond to being called out on social media.
"They do anything for clout," a comment from Sebastian the Ibis’ Instagram read on a post about the incident.
The five cities with the biggest drops in pending sales in October — an early sign of the health of a housing market — are all in Florida.
Wicki58/Getty Images
Floridian homeowners face mounting uncertainties following hurricanes Helene and Milton.
One resident is afraid of residents abandoning homes after storms if they can't pay to be fixed.
An inland real-estate agent worries that some snowbirds won't return to buy new properties.
A destructive hurricane season has dealt a blow to Florida's housing market, which was already struggling with surging homeowners' association costs and a home insurance crisis.
In October, the five metropolitan areas nationwide with the biggest year-over-year drops in pending home sales were all located in the Sunshine State, according to a new report from real-estate site Redfin.
Over a four-week period ending November 10, pending home sales dropped 15.2% in Ft. Lauderdale, 14% in Miami, 13.8% in West Palm Beach, 9.5% in Jacksonville, and 7.2% in Tampa.
In Tampa, pending home sales actually fell as much as 32.2% during the month prior, when both Hurricanes Milton and Helene made landfall. The drop has leveled out at 7.2%, indicating the worst impacts may be over.
Pending home sales are deals where a contract is signed, but the sale has not closed. With a typical window of one to two months between the sales of homes and their closings, pending home sales can be an early indicator of market shifts.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton have exacerbated concerns about the future of property values and the cost of homeownership in Florida. After the storms, which made landfall in September and October, the state suffered an estimated $21 to $34 billion in damages, including uninsured properties.
At the same time, insurance experts have raised the alarm that an affordability crisis is likely to worsen. Some Florida cities, like Jacksonville and Cape Coral, saw average home insurance payments for mortgaged single-family residences jump at least 85% since 2019, according to financial services company Intercontinental Exchange.
"Florida represents an outsize amount of risk compared to other areas of the world," Kyle Ulrich, president and CEO of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents, told Business Insider in October.
For some residents, the mood on the ground is anxious.
Three Florida homeownersshared their concerns about the cost of rebuilding after hurricane damage, their home values, and the storms' impact on seasonal residents who are key drivers of the state economy.
Retirees couldn't afford to raise their home, then it was hit by a hurricane
In 2021, Jon and Lyn Drake purchased a home in Yankeetown, Florida, which is about two hours north of Tampa and less than 10 minutes from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
Their 800-square-foot house, located just feet away from a small riverbed, had belonged to a neighbor who died and cost them $190,000.
The dream home soon turned into a nightmare for the retired couple, aged 71 and 69. Last fall, Hurricane Idalia floodwaters reachedwithin a foot of the house, the closest it had ever been, prompting Jon to look into services that could raise the home.
Hurricane Milton flooded this Florida neighborhood's streets.
Associated Press
The Drakes said they were quoted prices to lift the house from around $130,000 to as high as $229,000, which they felt they couldn't afford.
"There's not a lot of companies that do it here, and it's just really price-gouging right now," Jon told BI.
Then Hurricane Helene barreled through Yankeetown. The couple lost their kitchen appliances, washer and dryer, and a new generator. The floors will have to be torn up.
For now, the couple is waiting to see how their insurance claims shake out to figure out their next steps. They want to rebuild, but are worried about how much of the cost they'll have to shoulder themselves.
"We're in a holding pattern right now," Jon said.
A coastal resident worries about his home value
President Biden listens to remarks from the St. Pete Beach, Florida mayor following Hurricane Milton.
Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images
John Adams, a retiree who lives near Yankeetown in Inglis, said hishome was 15 inches away from taking on water during Hurricane Helene.
His home, raised 12 feet above ground, is the highest in his neighborhood, he said.
With the increasing power of storms coupled with skyrocketing insurance costs, Adams worries about homeowners in a pinch walking away from devastated homes. That could, in turn, lower the quality and value of the neighborhood. As Adam sees it, it's in his best interest to help pay for other peoples' homes to be raised.
"I'm in favor of paying for somebody else's fund to raise their homes. Because if we can solve that problem, it helps my values," he said.
Adams thinks either taxes could be raised or a new state agency could be created specifically to focus on raising low-lying homes that are most at risk. Currently, regional authorities like the Southwest Florida Water Management District are tasked with flood prevention and FEMA provides grants to some homeowners after a disaster.
"Nothing is ever going to fix or safeguard homes from flooding except 'elevate, elevate, elevate,'" he said "You can't outrun the water."
A real-estate agent thinks snowbirds could get scared away
In Ocala, located an hour from the Gulf of Mexico coastline, real-estate agent Emily White worries about how the severity of this year's storm will impact the snowbirds.
The annual migration of mostly elderly residents from cold-weather states who flock to the Florida sunshine to ride out the winter months plays a key role in the state's economy.
An estimated 1.5 million seasonal residents make up the snowbird flock, according to the Associated Press, representing a temporary 6.5% bump in the state's population.
"I'm praying the snowbirds come back this year. I need them to come back so I can get some of my listings sold, but we'll see how it's affected," White told Business Insider. "Will they come as hot and heavy as they did before these storms?"
Ocala, Florida.
Michael Warren/Getty Images
White said a potential buyer from Arizona called her after seeing the devastation of Hurricane Milton, wondering if she might need to alter her plans to buy and how the storms would affect home-insurance costs.
Even if there's no immediate impact this winter, White expects the hurricane jitters to leave a lasting impact. Buyers who were looking at coastal properties might move more inland and some prospective buyers may choose to rent instead, she told BI.
Controlling their own destiny for the College Football Playoff entering Saturday, the Miami Hurricanes can now do nothing but pray.
The Canes missed out on a spot in next week's ACC championship after getting upset by Syracuse, 42-38.
Now, Miami's chances of making the 12-team playoff are very much up in the air.
Miami's loss gave an ACC championship game bid to Clemson. Now, the winner of SMU-Clemson in the ACC title game will receive an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff.
The Hurricanes scored early and often, getting out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. But the Orange chipped away and tied the game on their first drive of the second half.
Late in the third, though, with the game tied at 28, Devin Grant of Syracuse picked up a fumble and returned it 56 yards to the house to give Syracuse the lead. Miami responded with a touchdown, but the Orange answered with another one.
On 4th and goal at the 15-yard line late in the game, the Hurricanes made the curious decision to kick a field goal to cut their deficit to four. Granted, scoring would have required a 15-yard play, but Miami also risked not touching the ball the rest of the game while still needing a touchdown.
That's exactly what happened. Syracuse got three first downs to end the game.
Saturday marked the fourth time this season Miami had entered the fourth quarter trailing. This time, though, it didn't work out in its favor.
In what could be his last game with Miami, Cam Ward completed 25 of his 36 passes for 349 yards. Kyle McCord went 26-for-36 for 380 yards in the win.
The loss also very much opens the door for Alabama, which entered Saturday ranked 13th in the country. The Crimson Tide took care of their business by winning the Iron Bowl against Auburn.
The developer of Hunters Point — a community near Tampa Bay — has taken extra steps to protect its homes from hurricane-force flooding and winds.
Courtesy of Hunters Point
Some Florida real-estate developers are building what they call hurricane-resistant communities.
Techniques used include tying homes down with steel straps and reducing flooding with "smart lakes."
While no home can be hurricane-proof, these strategies can minimize potential damage, experts said.
Hurricane Milton was barreling toward William Fulford's front door. The mayor of nearby Tampa, Florida, was pleading on television for area residents to leave or die. Still, Fulford, a 76-year-old retired homebuilder, was staying put.
"A lot of people would say I'm crazy," Fulford told Business Insider by phone on October 8, as the storm gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico. "But my house is great."
In 2022, Fulford bought a $1.25 million home in Hunters Point, a community in Cortez, Florida, where properties are raised 16 feet above the ground and tied together with steel straps. Fulford, whose home suffered minimal damage from Hurricane Milton, told Business Insider he believes his home is "hurricane-proof."
More than a few developers are betting on Florida's future by building hurricane-resistant communities like Fulford's. Hurricane season officially ends on November 30, but the movement toward resilient homes has increased as the climate crisis drives fiercer storms.
A home in Hunters Point similar to Fulford's.
Courtesy of Hunters Point
The prospect appeals to Florida homeowners grappling with stress and uncertainty as home insurance premiums and homeowners' association, or HOA, fees rise and the risk of severe storm damage mounts. After Hurricanes Helene and Milton in September and October, respectively, the state suffered an estimated $21 to $34 billion in damages to commercial and residential properties, including uninsured properties, according to real-estate analytics site Corelogic.
About two hours southeast of Hunters Point is a development called Babcock Ranch, which bills itself as "The Hometown of Tomorrow." Its builders made efforts to protect its 4,000 homes on about 17,000 acres from storms, including moving utilities underground and avoiding paths of natural water runoff.
A rep said that in the days before Hurricane Milton, Babcock Ranch saw a 390% increase in daily visits to its website. Hunters Point's developer said that two new homes have sold since last month's storm.
Babcock Ranch is a new residential development near Punta Gorda, Florida.
Courtesy of Babcock Ranch
Three building experts told Business Insider that no home can be hurricane-proof. However, Leslie Chapman-Henderson, the president and CEO of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, said that Hunters Point and Babcock Ranch are good examples of what hurricane resiliency can look like.
Building entire resilient communities — instead of one home with beefed-up protections on a block with regular homes — can protect neighborhoods and property values against Florida's unsettled future, she added.
"Our wish is to see all developers do this because they're on the leading edge," Chapman-Henderson said.
Hunters Point homes are high off the ground and air-tight
Living spaces begin on the second floor of the homes in Hunters Point.
Courtesy of Hunters Point
Hunters Point is in Florida's last working fishing village an hour south of Tampa.
The resiliency of its homes begins with their height. Located on a peninsula jutting out into Sarasota Bay, the development is just feet away from the coastline and vulnerable to storm surges like those seen during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which reached almost seven feet.
To counteract that risk, Hunters Point homes — which were developed and tested in a warehouse for 18 months — are built so that the bottom floor is a garage and storage, the middle floor is the home's first floor, and another level above has bedrooms — all connected by an elevator.
"You don't step into the house until you're 16 feet above the flood zone," developer Marshall Gobuty told Business Insider.
Currently, 31 of the 86 planned units at Hunter's Point have been built, with homes ranging in price from $1.45 million for nearly 1,700 square feet to $1.69 million for over 3,400 square feet.
Hunters Point homes are built with metal straps throughout the structures.
Courtesy of Hunters Point
Another feature of the homes is an extra-fortified base, in which the slab and foundation are poured together as one piece. The homes' walls are built with 2x6 beams instead of 2x4 beams to increase resiliency and allow for more insulation. The sides of the walls, the ceilings, and the roof are then filled in with closed foam to make the home airtight.
Every level is reinforced with metal straps all the way down to the foundation to hold the home together.
These connections — roof to walls, walls to each other, and walls to foundation — are fundamental to building a house that can withstand hurricane-force winds.
Chapman-Henderson said the real innovations built into these homes are the fortifications against the wind: the walls bolted into the foundation and the sturdier wood in the frames.
Any vulnerability in those structural connections could doom the whole house. When that happens, "usually roofs blow off first because they're not connected well to the walls, and then the walls don't have any lateral support, and they go, and you've lost the whole building," Mike O'Reilly, a licensed engineer and construction instructor at Colorado State University, told BI.
In Hunters Point homes, though, "everything is connected. There are no seams," Gobuty told BI. "Every house is built like a Yeti cooler."
Babcock Ranch uses "smart ponds" to manage flooding
Babcock Ranch in Punta Gorda, Florida, is built on land 30 feet above sea level, far from the coast.
So far, 3,752 homes have been built out of a planned 19,500 units. The development functions like a city, with an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, a shopping district, a recreation lodge, and dozens of hiking trails. Homes on the market range from a two-bedroom condo for $255,000 to a four-bedroom single-family home with its own pool for $1.695 million.
Babcock Ranch in Florida currently has about 3,750 homes completed out of a planned total of 19,500.
Courtesy of Babcock Ranch
When developer Syd Kitson purchased the land in 2006, his team spent hours poring over maps dating back to the 1940s to find the property's natural flowways, which are how excess water naturally runs out of the area during flooding.
The team intentionally sacrificed building thousands of units to leave that land untouched.
"That's part of working with Mother Nature, rather than working against Mother Nature," Kitson told BI.
Babcock Ranch also has "smart lakes," or man-made bodies of water throughout the development. These lakes have solar-powered pumps with predictive analytics that raise and lower the lake's height when a storm nears. If the area expects major flooding, the smart lakes will lower to prepare for the increased rainfall.
"Our philosophy is to do everything in our power to be as resilient as we possibly can," Kitson said.
Babcock Ranch welcomed its first residents in 2018. It faced its first major test in 2021 when the eye of Category 4 storm Hurricane Ian brought 150 mph wind gusts to the development. The property only sustained minimal damage, including fallen trees and a few broken solar panels, Kitson said.
Babcock Ranch put all of the community's utilities underground to increase storm resiliency.
Courtesy of Babcock Ranch
Downed power lines and dayslong blackouts often affect large swaths of the state following major hurricanes. Babcock Ranch placed all utilities, including water, electricity, and wastewater, underground to prevent that.
"You won't see a single utility pole in Babcock Ranch," Kitson said.
The submerged power poles are built in concrete tubes designed to withstand 165 mph wind gusts.
Chapman-Henderson, of the nonprofit that advocates for safe homes, called the smart lakes and buried utilities "innovative" and added that recent storms have proven these strategies are effective.
Babcock Ranch is so well regarded for its safety during a storm that the elementary school's fieldhouse serves as a state- and county-designated evacuation center. Built to withstand 150 mph wind gusts, the fieldhouse provided shelter for 1,300 Floridians during Hurricane Milton.
"We're not a place where you evacuate. We're a place where people being ordered to evacuate come," Kitson said.
Hurricane resistance is the future of Florida homebuilding
Hunter's Point and Babcock Ranch are part of a growing movement for more resilient homes.
Chapman-Henderson warned, however, that residents shouldn't let their home's sturdiness make them complacent. They should still evacuate if authorities call for it.
Babcock Ranch is an evacuation area for surrounding residents in the event of a major storm.
Courtesy of Babcock Ranch
"We can build to withstand these events, but we should never say it's absolute without fail," she said.
Calling a house 100% hurricane-proof is "like calling the Titanic unsinkable," O'Reilly said.
Though there isn't a single national standard for hurricane-resistant buildings, Fortified — a program run by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, an industry-backed research group — evaluates one of the most critical structures for a home's resiliency: its roof. Fortified grants certifications to homeowners who strengthen their roofs through different methods, such as using grooved, ring-shank nails instead of traditionally smooth ones.
More homeowners are requesting to have their roofs certified as stronger-than-average, Fred Malik, managing director of Fortified, told BI. Fortified certifications have risen from less than 1,000 in 2016 to nearly 12,000 last year, bringing the grand total to nearly 70,000 over the program's lifetime, Malik added. The program anticipates adding another 17,000 by the end of this year.
Though Hunters Point and Babcock Ranch have not yet participated in Fortified, Malik said the measures their builders are taking seem effective.
"I get really nervous when anybody refers to anything as something 'proof,'" Malik told BI. "But they are making some really good decisions."
Just hours after voting to finance repairs to the home stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays, the St. Petersburg City Council reversed course.
The Rays will now pay the division rival New York Yankees $15 million to play their home regular-season games at New York's spring training ballpark. That is now the only certain home the Rays will have until further notice.
The stadium's fiberglass roof was ripped clean off Oct. 9 when Hurricane Milton swept ashore just south of Tampa Bay. Then came the destructive water damage inside the venue, causing an estimated $55.7 million in damage. The extensive repairs cannot be finished before the 2026 season, city documents show.
The city at least would have supplied some funding and started the process with its initial vote, which was a 4-3 decision.
The initial vote Thursday was to get moving on the roof portion of the repair. Once that was done, crews would begin working on laying down a new baseball field and fixing damaged seating and office areas and a variety of electronic systems, which would require another vote to approve money for the remaining restoration.
Members who opposed it said there wasn’t enough clarity on numerous issues, including how much would be covered by the ballpark’s insurance and what amount might be provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The reversal on fixing Tropicana Field came after the council voted to delay consideration of revenue bonds for a proposed new $1.3 billion Rays ballpark. Just two days earlier, the Pinellas County Commission postponed a vote on its share of the new stadium bonds, leaving that project in limbo.
"This is a sad place. I’m really disappointed," council Chair Deborah Figg-Sanders said. "We won’t get there if we keep finding ways we can’t."
The Rays say the lack of progress puts the new stadium plan and the future of Tropicana Field in jeopardy.
"I can’t say I’m confident about anything," Rays Co-President Brian Auld told council members.
The reversal now means the city and Rays must work on an alternative in the coming weeks so that Tropicana Field can possibly be ready for the 2026 season.
"I’d like to pare it down and see exactly what we’re obligated to do," council member John Muhammad said.
Several council members said before the vote on the $23.7 million to fix the roof that the city is contractually obligated to do so.
"I don’t see a way out of it. We have a contract that’s in place," council member Gina Driscoll said. "We’re obligated to do it. We are going to fix the roof."
The team's planned new stadium would be ready for the 2028 season, if that project advances, the team said Tuesday.
Rays top executives said in a letter to the Pinellas County Commission that the team has already spent $50 million for early work on the new $1.3 billion ballpark and cannot proceed further because of delays in approval of bonds for the public share of the costs.
"The Rays organization is saddened and stunned by this unfortunate turn of events," a letter, signed by co-presidents Auld and Matt Silverman, said. They noted the overall project was previously approved by the County Commission and the City of St. Petersburg.
Asked if Major League Baseball can survive long term in the Tampa Bay area, Rays Principal Owner Stuart Sternberg said the outlook is "less rosy than it was three weeks ago. We're going to do all that we can, as we've tried for 20 years, to keep the Rays here for generations to come."
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., took aim at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), arguing that its recent response to multiple deadly storms shows the agency needs to be "completely revamped."
"The No. 1 thing that hurts FEMA’s reputation is the fact that so many citizens are denied when they apply the first time they come through the FEMA portal. And if they have to go through congressional offices to get help… if that is going to be the protocol for our citizens to get help, from the emergency management agency, then it needs to be completely revamped," Donalds said during a House Oversight Committee hearing on FEMA Tuesday.
Donalds' comments came during questioning of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who was peppered by Republican members of the Oversight Committee to provide answers on FEMA’s response to recent storms and accusations that the agency discriminated against supporters of President-elect Trump.
FEMA has been under fire over the agency’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which earlier this year made landfall in the southeastern U.S. and caused widespread destruction across multiple states.
While the agency’s overall performance during the response to the two storms has been the center of controversy, members of the Oversight Committee repeatedly asked Criswell to answer to potential "systemic bias" against Trump supporters in its response.
The questions come after now-fired FEMA employee Marn'i Washington told relief workers to skip houses that had signs supporting Trump during the agency’s cleanup and recovery effort after Hurricane Milton, an incident Criswell insisted was isolated in multiple responses during the hearing.
"There is nothing in any of our policies, our training, or our information sent out to field workers, to avoid any home for whatever reason, especially not because of a political affiliation," Criswell said in response to questioning from Donalds. "The actions of this one individual are not representative of the work that we do at FEMA."
But Donalds, whose district was hit hard by Milton, said he had "an issue" with the answer, pointing to a New York Post report that featured an anonymous FEMA employee who claimed that such discrimination on the basis of political affiliation is an "open secret" at FEMA.
Criswell argued that the incident in question was investigated by FEMA and that an investigation into if such issues are more widespread is still ongoing, prompting even more fierce pushback from Donalds.
"You told me at the beginning of this questioning that there is nothing in your policies that would dictate that this is to occur, yet you have one official who was fired, who said it does occur. You have another official under your purview… talking to the press, that it does occur, but you can’t verify to this committee that these practices do or do not occur," Donalds said.
FEMA did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
