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The Climate Crisis is a Building Code Crisis; Not Just an Insurance Crisis

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Tom Hilton
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The Hartmann Report had an interesting article Saturday on climate change pointing out how Republicans are turning climate change into a new political cudgel. Hartmann also mentioned in passing that "the climate crisis is also an insurance crisis". That observation, while true, I consider to be misleading. The climate crisis is less an insurance crisis than it is a building code crisis - and it is a national problem; not just a problem in Florida where I live.

Over the past 50 years, I have visited throughout Europe lecturing, consulting, and visiting friends. We also own a 2nd house there. It is impossible to ignore the fact that, like our house, most houses in Europe are made with concrete walls and have tile roofs. That explains why so many of them are centuries old. Tile roofs do not blow off in hurricanes nor do concrete walls collapse. Moreover, toss a burning branch on a tile roof and it just burns out and blows away. It does not set the entire house on fire.

In contrast to Europe, the vast majority of American houses are made of wood and have lightweight flammable asphalt or wood shingle roofs. American houses are the antithesis of the Three Little Pigs story we learned in kindergarten. In storms, light roofs easily blow off followed by the wood walls exploding outward into kindling. In wildfires, burning branches fly onto flammable roofs easily setting the entire house ablaze.

Thirty years ago, Homestead Florida near Miami was flattened by Hurricane Andrew. Miami/Dade County drew up new building codes to harden both new construction and post-storm repairs. Briefly, if on the beach, a house should be built on concrete pilings 8-12 ft above ground, walls should be steel-reinforced concrete, and roofs should be hip-design covered with heavy tiles. Does the Miami/Dade code actually reduce storm damage? Absolutely, yes.

After Hurricane Michael flattened Mexico Beach Florida in 2018, several journalists mentioned that building code enforcement was all but nonexistent in the panhandle region. Besides, the codes in force were antiquated and useless as protection against climate change storms and wildfires. If you Google images for "Mexico Beach hurricane" you will see several pictures of the only house left standing on the beach. It conforms to Miami/Dade code and survived the storm without a scratch.

My spouse and I retired to the Central Florida beaches in 2012 and bought a house on A1A where the land is at least 3 meters above storm tide. It, and most homes in our development, meet Miami Code. Storm damage, if any, is usually caused by flying debris penetrating our pool screens - nothing requiring an insurance claim. Nevertheless, our insurance premiums have risen from $3K in 2012 to almost $8K in 2024.

Governor DeSantis and his GOP cronies loudly blame the rising rates on shyster lawyers and shady contractors who get away with false insurance claims. That is total Republican gaslight. Courts do not make awards for fraudulent damages. You cannot fake a house burned to the ground or flattened by wind.

If Florida, and the rest of the USA, were to start building houses with climate change in mind, insurance rates would likely begin to level off. Repairs to storm-damaged homes would have to meet the new codes, which would harden them more. Furthermore, states could use tax breaks and insurance discounts as incentives to encourage homeowners to retro-fit improvements.

The obvious conclusion is that treating climate change disasters as an insurance problem guarantees the problem will get way worse.

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I'm a psychologist and retired Navy Captain. In 2000, I joined NIH as a national research program official, science officer, and faculty member. Before retiring to Happilyeverafter on the Florida Coastline, I have lived in 20 different places (more...)
 

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