Advocacy

Fairview is committed to supporting residents through long-term advocacy work. Thanks to a team of affordable housing and policy advocacy experts, the organization is able to advocate for the industry’s mission in a variety of ways, from background research about issues in affordable housing to direct support of policy that will benefit residents.

Dealbreaker: The Imminent Threat of Rising Insurance Costs

In Texas and across the nation, affordable housing developers and operators are facing a growing crisis, and it’s not just construction costs or workforce shortages. It’s insurance.

Homeowners Insurance: The Other Affordability Crisis

The wildfires that swept through two Los Angeles neighborhoods in January 2025 destroyed 11,434 homes valued at nearly $30 billion. Less than two years earlier, a wildfire that took out most of Lahaina Town on the Hawaiian island of Maui leveled 1,500 homes valued at about $6 billion. And in October of last year, flooding from Hurricane Helene demolished 1,000 homes and severally damaged another 74,000, mostly in western North Carolina, resulting in an estimated $12 billion for replacement and repair costs.

Developing a Preservation Risk Mitigation Methodology

The United States is facing an affordable housing crisis. The 2024 State of the Nation’s Housing Report found that homeowners and renters are struggling with high housing costs, and that the number of cost burdened renters is at an all-time high. To solve the affordable housing crisis, policy makers must take action to increase housing supply and take concerted action to preserve the nation’s existing affordable housing stock. This paper explores factors stakeholders should evaluate when prioritizing effective and cost-efficient policy interventions that maximize the preservation of highest impact affordable housing communities. Key topics explored include housing market conditions, availability of financial resources, affordability terms, physical and financial conditions and ownership characteristics.

Impediments in the Insurance Marketplace for Affordable Housing

Affordable housing developers, owners and operators are experiencing unprecedented challenges relating to increased property casualty, general liability, and builders risk insurance premiums. If not addressed soon, insurance premium inflation will cause irreparable harm to existing affordable housing communities and prevent the ability of developers to finance desperately needed new affordable housing supply. This paper explores the market dynamics driving insurance inflation, its impact on housing affordability and housing production and federal policy solutions that could provide affordable housing operators and developers with more available, affordable and attainable insurance coverage

State and Local Policy Strategies to Address the Affordable Housing Insurance Crisis

Building on Fairview’s “Impediments in the Insurance Marketplace for Affordable Housing” white paper, this treatise takes a deep dive into policy strategies that can be implemented at a state and local level to mitigate rising insurance costs in the affordable and multifamily housing marketplace. The paper cites local examples that may serve as models for policy makers on an array of areas that address both property and casualty insurance.