With South Carolina facing escalating flood risk, due both to climate changes leading to rising sea levels and changing storm patterns, as well as development in harm’s way, Ceres and Environmental Defense Fund released this new report to explore the extent to which innovative disaster insurance policy designs can fill gaps and bring greater equity to the state’s disaster recovery.
The report reveals several common challenges across all programs and sources for economic recovery, including:
Many sources of funds for recovery are insufficient or inaccessible, especially for low-income and communities of color
Disaster insurance can be unaffordable for low- and moderate-income households
There are often substantial delays in getting any recovery funds
The needs of renters and rural areas are not well met
The report explores potential applications, benefits, challenges, and implementation considerations of two insurance designs new to the U.S. residential market: microinsurance and group disaster insurance.