New Mexico communities need insurance
Redlining compounds woes of fires and floods
I am pleased Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and key legislators are advancing assistance for fire victims in northern New Mexico. New Mexico is rich in culture and tradition, and we work with one another to ensure our heritage continues to thrive with every new generation.
An Associated Press article that appeared widely on Oct. 24 highlighted a crisis of inadequate insurance coverage impacting thousands of New Mexico homeowners suffering the devastating effects of wildfires and flooding that continue to harm families, properties and livelihoods.
Affordable insurance is not available to many New Mexicans and insurance providers are not stepping up for our state. This absence has caused a sense of insecurity and despair. In a state with permanently uninsured homes — many third and fourth generation — the crisis is worsening. Our state, largely Hispanic and Native American, is among the nation’s poorest and is now bearing the brunt of a kind of invisible discrimination, an inadvertent redlining. Redlining is the discriminatory practice where basic services are withheld from underrepresented populations based on ethnicity and economic status.
New Mexico leaders, recognizing the need to address this crisis, recently convinced California Insurance Company, an A+ rated U.S. insurance company, to move to New Mexico, and begin issuing fair and affordable policies to the most underrepresented communities in our state. Unfortunately, this company, CIC, was blocked by bureaucrats in California from transferring to New Mexico. Meanwhile, New Mexico families suffer overwhelming future threats of wildfire losses, which will continue to make the market undesirable for any new insurance provider’s entry and deplorably costly for consumers.
As New Mexicans, we have faith in tradition and family. We have lived on these lands for generations, passing our Native and Hispanic heritage on from one generation to the next. I know that Gov. Lujan Grisham and California Gov. Gavin Newsom understand these hardships, but even the most resilient families impacted by natural disasters and forest fires need a fair and equitable insurance market to recover with dignity.