It’s been nine months since firestorms tore through the Los Angeles area — leaving a trail of destroyed homes and buildings.
For those residents who lost their home in the Palisades and Eaton fires, the last several months have, for the most part, been characterized by navigating insurance, finding a place to live and determining whether to rebuild.
Another segment of fire survivors — those whose homes are still standing but sustained damage during the fires — is stuck in a similar limbo.
While some 11,000 single-family residences were razed by January’s Palisades and Eaton fires, hundreds of others were left standing but sustained significant structural or smoke and ash damage. A new survey suggests it’s been even more difficult to sustain insurance coverage in those situations than total loss claims.
The September survey, conducted by the non-profit Department of Angels, polled more than 2,300 residents who lived in burn zones in January. It found that “those whose homes are still standing have had far worse experiences with insurers than those who experienced total loss.”
In fact, the results released on Wednesday showed that just 36% of those who sustained both structural and smoke or ash damage said they’re satisfied with their insurance experience. The other 57% of respondents reported dissatisfaction, and of that group, 41% said they’re “very dissatisfied.”
That’s nearly the reverse of the results from respondents who experienced a total loss: 55% of whom reported satisfaction and 28% who said they’re dissatisfied.
All told, compared to total loss survivors, those with standing structures are roughly four times more likely to have experienced claim denials and are more likely to have received lowball estimates for coverage.
“Survivors with standing homes face particular challenges,” the department said in a news release on Wednesday. “These are properties that sustained smoke and structural damage without total loss. These households report losing displacement coverage at four times the rate of total loss survivors, while often facing more complex claim adjudication processes.”
As of July 31, data from the California Department of Insurance showed that a total of 38,825 claims for residential property had been filed as a result of the Palisades and Eaton fires. Of those claims, more than 36,600 were claims with payment. In all, nearly $19 billion in residential claims had been paid.