Your bi-weekly(ish) note about home, housing, and community. |
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Hi friends, I’m recovering slowly from the flu. My body’s defenses are way down after having Covid last month. As one of like, two people still wearing masks at the grocery store, I’ve gotta say this really stinks. Thankfully, when I’m sick I tend to go into ultra-health mode; it’s basically the only thing that keeps me from eating dessert lol. So I’m writing to you from my bed, eating roasted sweet potato medallions, and excited to talk about insurance. 😅 |
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Geoff and I talk a lot about what our lives will look like in a few years, namely, when we have kids. He’s from Miami, I’m from Napa (both expensive!), and we both live in DC far away from our blood relatives. We talk about what it might look like for us to move to South Florida, to have family around. Then every so often, something happens that makes us question that path. This time it was Hurricane Ian. |
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Here’s the issue, in brief: - 🌊 Communities along coastlines and other flood-prone areas are more susceptible to damage from extreme weather. The same also applies to fire-prone areas, like in Northern California where I’m from.
- 💸 The insurance market in Florida has been slowly collapsing since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, a devastating Category 5 storm that hit South Florida, hard. This looks like fewer insurance options and really high monthly premiums.
- 🏡 Let’s say you’re trying to buy a house, but when you go to get insurance you discover you either can’t afford the monthly payment or simply cannot get an insurer to cover your home. That basically means you can’t get a mortgage.
You can probably see where this is going. The Daily did a pretty great job telling the story of how this plays out in this recent episode. Very briefly, they touch on the tension between a technocratic level (i.e. good! people shouldn’t live in these climate-risky places) and reality for the people who live in these climate change-averse ares. Rich people will always have options. People who aren’t rich aren’t guaranteed that sense of security. There’s a larger conversation here about collective responsibility. What do we do about the fact that the places some people live now won’t be safe for them to stay — not at some abstract point in the future, but likely in our lifetimes. If you have thoughts to share on this, I’d love to hear them and I think others would too. Leave a comment on the (new but sort of still under construction!) site and let’s chat about it! Will we move to Florida? Only time will tell lol. But will we buy a house there? Probably not. Until next time, 🧡 Dominique |
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⚡️ NEXT ARTICLE CLUB IS NOV. 9! ⚡️ Article Club is BACK!! For the rest of 2022, we’ll meet on the second Wednesday of the month from 7-8 p.m. ET. I’ll determine next year’s schedule once I’ve finalized my spring semester classes. 🙃 Keep an eye on the Member Dashboard for an update on what we’re reading – I’ll also share on Instagram and send out a note ahead of the next club meeting. |
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Have you heard of Homeworthy? It’s a youtube channel from Alison Kenworthy, a TV producer and host, full of wild and wonderful long-form home tours. This tour of Melissa Smrekar’s home is a delight. It’s full of secondhand and affordable DIY ideas, and Melissa’s just really f*cking funny. |
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DYK: This newsletter helps me pay for grad school! Invest in a future community planner – forward this to a friend and encourage them to… |
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PS – Article club is coming back, October’s basically over, and today we’re talking about climate change and housing. Scroll up to read about it! |
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