Property insurance costs are surging, driven by more frequent natural disasters, aging infrastructure and fewer insurers willing to cover affordable housing in high-risk areas. For example, according to a recent report by Enterprise, affordable housing insurance costs in New York rose 110% since 2017, fueling a 40% increase in overall operating expenses. These rising premiums strain already tight budgets, threatening the sustainability of affordable housing.
Crafting national solutions is difficult due to fragmented, state-level insurance regulation. But this is a priority for the affordable housing community—we need to share learnings and explore solutions.
Join the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF)’s Affordable Housing Initiative on Thursday, November 20 from 3-4:30pm EST for a webinar that will cover:
- Understanding the Insurance Market: How it works, why it’s regulated by states, and what’s driving the volatility.
- Solutions for Shared Equity Housing: What developers and residents in shared equity housing models can do to mitigate risk and manage costs.
- Policy and National Solutions: Ideas that could help stabilize the market.
If you’re involved in affordable housing development, policy or community organizing, this webinar will offer valuable insights and strategies.
Meet our speakers
Douglas Heller
Director of Insurance | Consumer Federation of America
Doug Heller is the Director of Insurance at Consumer Federation of America, where he provides expertise to nonprofits around the country. A frequent contributor to insurance news stories, Heller has led challenges to insurance company rates and practices, testified at numerous state/federal legislative and regulatory hearings, served as an expert in civil litigation, and authored reports on U.S. insurance markets during 25+ years of work on insurance public policy. Heller is a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance and an appointed board member of the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan Advisory Committee. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California.
James Fenniman
Area Executive Vice President and Senior Director, Affordable Housing & Construction Practices | Gallagher
James A. Fenniman is Area Executive Vice President and Senior Director of Affordable Housing & Construction Practices at Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, Inc. In this role, he is responsible for developing affordable housing and construction opportunities within the NYC branch and the Middle Atlantic Northeast Region. With over 50 years of NYC brokerage experience, he has held various management and sales positions with Richards & Fenniman, Bollinger and now Gallagher concentrating in Affordable Housing and Construction. James earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Wagner College and am MBA from St. John’s University Graduate School of Risk Management, where he is an adjunct assistant professor.
Moira Birss
Senior Fellow | Climate and Community Institute
Moira Birss is a Senior Fellow with the Climate and Community Institute, where she leads the organization’s work to research and design a housing justice approach to the home insurance crisis in the U.S. Moira is also an independent consultant providing visionary strategic advising and public policy research and design based on her 20+ years of climate, economic justice, human rights and social justice advocacy, research, campaigning, and on-the-ground experience. Moira’s issue areas of expertise include climate financial regulation, home insurance, carbon markets, Indigenous peoples’ rights, forest protection and deforestation, public policy in Latin America, and human rights defender protection. Moira holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Sarah Edelman
Executive Vice President, Policy and Programs | National Community Stabilization Trust
Sarah Edelman is the Executive Vice President for Policy and Programs at the National Community Stabilization Trust. Prior to NCST, Sarah served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development where she led the Federal Housing Administration’s single family mortgage program. She’s also worked at Fannie Mae, where she launched and managed the Duty to Serve program and at the Center for American Progress where she led housing research and advocacy. Sarah started her career in local community development. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History from George Washington University and a master’s degree in Public Management from the University of Maryland.