Home Insurance Crisis: My Story

By Jondi Gumz

My husband & I have owned our home in the city limits of Scotts Valley (1.6 miles from the fire station) since 1992.

We have home insurance, Farmers then State Farm, and never filed a claim.

We have paid faithfully for earthquake insurance.

Our home insurance has gone up from $1,000 a year to $3,290.

Our quake policy has gone up from $900 to $1,300.

We live on Whispering Pines Drive, where homes were built in 1974 tucked in between six 100-foot tall Ponderosa pines.

Where we live was approved by the city.

There was no requirement for defensible space.

A 100-foot Ponderosa pine leaning with a 6-foot crack is cut down in Scotts Valley. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz

After the windstorm last year, we noticed a 6-foot diagonal crack in one giant pine, the one tucked between our house and garage.

The way it was leaning, it could smash our garage, the PG&E power lines on the street, knocking out power for the neighborhood, and our neighbor’s house.

I asked PG&E’s Davey tree crew guy to look and got an opinion that it was a hazard, but he could not give a time frame as to when. My husband, who is retired, didn’t want to wait so we got bids. I called State Farm to see if this could be covered by insurance. No, I was told, only if it falls. My husband didn’t want to take that chance.

So we paid $10,000 to take down ONE tree — yes, $10,000 for ONE tree.

Our Social Security checks are not enough to pay this kind of expense over and over.

As I said, we have five of these 100-year-old Ponderosa pines.

Personally, I am still healing from breast cancer, diagnosed 2018.

I am thankful I am still here, and that my holistic integrative approach has so far been successful, but maintaining my health without side effects is unbelievably costly — about as much as cutting down four giant pine trees.

Still, my health is my priority.

In 2022, after the CZU, Dixie, Santa Barbara, & Caldor fires destroyed thousands of homes, and Gov. Newsom boasted the state of California had a $97 billion surplus, he should have proposed payments to homeowners in counties where wildfires had occurred to help them pay for safety improvements such as defensible space.

But I never heard that idea mentioned.

In 2023, the USDA put $97 million into California’s Community Wildfire Defense Grant program, which was to help communities in the wildland urban interface maintain resilient landscapes, create fire-adapted communities, and ensure safe, effective wildfire response.

Grants, 29 of them, largely went to fire departments, fuel breaks, fuel reduction, all well and good, but none for homeowners and none for Scotts Valley. If we’re going to be charged wildland rates in the city of Scotts Valley, shouldn’t Scotts Valley get help?

This year, the state announced federal grant funding up to $50,000 per household for wildfire mitigation and home hardening.

No help for us, because it won’t cover work you already did — like that $10,000 pine — and since I tapped my retirement accounts to pay for my holistic integrative health care and the tree, we are no longer a “low income” household at 80% of the $132,800 median.

Expecting us to pay for a 50-year-old government policy that is obsolete is just plain wrong.

If we have 100-foot pine trees within five feet of our house, and our garage made of wood is within 30 feet of our house, and our wood deck is attached to the side of the house because we can’t afford all this removal and demolition, does that mean under Regulation 2644.9, we will only be offered an insurance policy we can’t afford??

Should we drop our home & quake insurance policies and spend that money on tree and garage removal?

Is there any hope of the federal grant for median-income households?

Because if the neighbors on our city street get funding for hardening and we don’t, won’t our home pose a risk for the neighborhood?

What options do you see?

•••
How to Search for Home Insurance

A representative of the California Department of Insurance told me he took a half day to find a better deal for his homeowner’s policy in Los Angeles County, using tools at www.insurance.ca.gov.

I haven’t tried it yet but here’s where to look:

Click on Consumers at the top, look at the third column and click on the box that says Homeowner/Residential., and you’ll see the Shop Around page.

Now you can choose Compare Premiums, where you can enter your county, type of coverage, age of home and how much coverage, and get estimates. I got 12 pages of companies to call. I recognize only a couple; most of them are not big on advertising.

Alternatively, go back to the Shop Around page, click on Home Insurance Finder. I got names of 12 companies plus the FAIR last-resort plan funded by insurance companies.

For your search to work, make sure to use Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.

•••
Who’s Eligible for $50,000?

The State of California reports up to $50,000 per household is available to make homes more fire resistant, but only if household income is at or below 80% of the $132,800 median.

Household size Extremely Low (30% of median) Very Low (50% of median) Low (80% of median)

Source: www.santacruzcountyca.gov/OR3.aspx