The Uninsurables: How Storms and Rising Seas are Making Coastlines Unliveable

An astonishing 10% of Canadian homes are effectively uninsurable due to flood risk, The Guardian reports. The Guardian investigated the coastlines of Canada citing figures from the Insurance Bureau of Canada, a trade body, these 800,000 homes concentrated in the Atlantic Provinces and other coastal areas represent 90% of the Canadian insurance industry’s financial liability. In response, the industry is pushing for a federal government-run insurance scheme similar to the United States’ own troubled National Flood Insurance Program.

“The private market, on its own, cannot handle the level of risk that’s escalating in the system without some sort of formal government backstop or direct participation,” the IBC’s Craig Stewart told The Guardian. Over the last 15 years, for instance, insurance claims from severe weather events have quadrupled, including September’s Hurricane Fiona.

Climate change poses a clear and present danger to a Canadian housing market already under severe stress due to rising interest rates, underscoring how simple rules of thumb — Canada is inherently safer than south Florida — are not just wrong, but also dangerous. At Climate Alpha, our models include variables such as the overall health and structure of housing and insurance markets to create more accurate forecasts of risk and opportunities in the decades ahead.