Survey on Climate Resilience

Weather Risks & Housing Insurance

NeighborWorks America wanted to understand American perceptions of how extreme weather impacts aspects of their lives - from experiences getting affordable and adequate homeowners' or renters' insurance to their familiarity and likelihood to implement home products aimed at promoting home electrification. Read our press release. 

Disparities persist across race and ethnicity 

When it comes to homeowners' and renters' ability to get adequate and affordable insurance for where they live as well as the concerns they have about extreme weather's impacts on homeownership.

•  Black and Hispanic adults are between five and 10 percentage points more likely than white adults to have experienced difficulty: 
  • Getting access to homeowners'/renters' insurance: White adults - 17%; Black adults - 23%; and Hispanic adults - 27%. 
  • Getting a homeowners'/renters' insurance policy with adequate coverage: White adults - 18%; Black adults - 23%; and Hispanic adults - 27%. 
  • Getting an adequate homeowners'/renters' insurance policy that is affordable: White adults - 20%; Black adults - 25%; and Hispanic adults - 28%. 
• In addition to greater difficulty accessing insurance, other aspects of homeownership are causing headaches for Black and Hispanic adults at a significantly higher rate than white adults. 
  • A majority of Black (62%) and Hispanic (55%) homeowners are concerned about their home's value decreasing due to the risk of or damage from extreme weather events, compared to 37% of white homeowners.
• Similarly, just one-third (34%) of white homeowners are concerned about homeowners' insurers pulling out of the area where they live due to increased risk and cost associated with covering extreme weather events, while closer to half of Black (53%) and Hispanic (49%) homeowners are concerned about this prospect.

Americans recognize growing risk of extreme weather events

And the risk this poses to their homes. Few feel very well-prepared to deal with these events and how they're impacting where they live. 

• Majority of Americans say they face a growing risk of their home being impacted by extreme weather events. 51% of adults, including 55% of homeowners and 48% of renters say the risk of their home being impacted by extreme weather events is growing while only 19% say this risk is shrinking. 
• While generally optimistic, Americans aren't overwhelmingly confident in their ability to handle extreme weather events. 
  • One-third of American adults (33%) say they don't feel well prepared to deal with extreme weather events. One-third of American adults (33%) say they don't feel well prepared to deal with extreme weather events. Renters are most likely to feel vulnerable to extreme weather events with 38% saying they don't feel well-prepared compared to 28% of homeowners. 
  • 1 in 5 American adults (22%) have already had trouble getting adequate homeowners'/renters' insurance that is affordable due to extreme weather risks in their area. 

Certain barriers will need to be overcome

If Americans are to adopt home electrification and weatherization improvements.

• Certain technologies and products stand out as options which Americans are interested in and realistically able to adopt. 
  • Of the tested options, adults are most likely to consider purchasing electric appliances (47%), solar panels for homes (39%) and electric heat pumps for home heating/cooling (38%) or water heating (37%). 
  • When asked which single technology they would be able to most realistically incorporate into their homes in the future, adults pointed to home weatherization products (24%), electric home appliances (17%) and solar panels for home use (17%). 
• Barriers remain for Americans to implement these products in their homes. Citing concerns around up-front and long-term maintenance costs, adults say they'd be most motivated to implement these technologies based on their potential for:
  • Long-term cost savings due to decreased cost of utilities (39%), improved home safety (35%) and increased protection from power outages (33%). 
  • A further 34% say they'd be most motivated to implement these technologies if there were tax credits and programs that cover part, but not all, of the cost of purchase. 
  • Of the tested options, the most common barriers to Americans adopting home electrification improvements in the future are concerns about up-front purchase costs (53%), the costs of long-term maintenance (38%) and the fact that many adults don't yet have enough information to weigh the pros and cons of these technologies (30%). 
    • Up-front purchase costs are of particular concern to adults in rural and suburban communities: 56% of adults in each of these communities are concerned about up-front costs compared to 45% of adults living in urban areas. 

Methodology

This poll was conducted between Aug. 15-17, 2024, among a sample of 2,506 adults. The weighting scheme used involved a two-stage weighting system. An oversample of rural adults was initially weighted to their respective population proportions on age, gender and education. Then those first-stage weights were filtered into the general population weights and the entire sample of adults was weighted on age, gender, race, ethnicity, education and region to match national proportions for the U.S. The interviews were conducted online. Results from the full survey have a margin of error plus or minus 2 percentage points.