There have been clear signs for many years that serious problems were brewing in the home insurance industry. In some cases, the consequences for failing to promptly address this crisis have had significant impacts across California’s economy, with ramifications spilling into the real estate, construction, and financial services sectors.

Following extensive media coverage of an increasing number of home insurance cancellations and rapid growth in the state’s safety-net insurance option, the Little Hoover Commission launched a study to examine California’s home insurance market.

In November 2024, the Commission released its report, Building a Stronger Home Insurance Market for California, which makes eleven recommendations for reforms intended to help bring stability to the market, reduce the cost of homeowners insurance and increase its availability, including public oversight of catastrophe modeling, the inclusion of mitigation efforts in underwriting models, and the creation of a core set of evidence-based mitigations for homeowners and communities.