FAIR warning

Thousands of Thousand Oaks homeowners who rely on California's insurer of last resort will pay more for coverage starting next month — and in parts of town bordered by open space, the bill could climb far above average.

Beginning Oct. 15, the California FAIR Plan will implement an average statewide rate increase of just over 29% for new and renewing residential policies, according to the Thousand Oaks Acorn. But that average won't be spread evenly. Because the largest share of the increase is tied to wildfire risk, homeowners in high-hazard areas — a category that includes nearly 35% of policies in the 91361 ZIP code covering Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village — could see substantially steeper hikes, while some lower-risk policyholders may see little change or even a decrease.

What the numbers look like locally

An Acorn analysis of FAIR Plan data as of June 30 found more than 13,000 residential FAIR Plan policies across the ZIP codes covering Camarillo, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Simi Valley and Agoura Hills. The Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park ZIP codes — 91320, 91360, 91361 and 91362 — account for roughly 5,300 of those policies, carrying nearly $19.5 million in annual premiums.

Applying the 29.1% statewide average to those premiums suggests an increase of about $5.7 million annually across the local ZIP codes, though actual bills will vary property by property. By comparison, Camarillo's roughly 970 policies would see about $1.1 million in combined increases at the average rate, and Moorpark's 931 policies about $900,000.

Ventura County as a whole now has 16,348 residential FAIR Plan policies with about $51.4 million in annual premiums. Of those, the FAIR Plan categorizes 5,335 as low wildfire risk, 9,050 as medium risk and 1,960 as high risk.

The local disparities are striking. While nearly 35% of policies in the 91361 ZIP code are rated high risk, FAIR Plan data show no high-wildfire-risk policies at all in Camarillo's 93010 and 93012 or Moorpark's 93021. That means two homeowners paying identical FAIR Plan premiums today could see very different bills when their policies renew.

Why premiums are going up

The California Department of Insurance approved the 29.1% average increase after the FAIR Plan requested an even larger 35.8% hike, the Acorn reported. The new rates apply to new policies and renewals beginning Oct. 15 — meaning existing policyholders won't see their bills change overnight, but will encounter the new rates when their policies come up for renewal.

The increase is driven largely by the wildfire portion of the premium. "The largest component of the increase relates to the wildfire portion of policyholder's premium, so those policyholders whose properties are at significant risk of wildfire will see a higher increase than those whose properties are at lower risk of wildfire, and some policyholders will see a premium decrease," FAIR Plan spokesperson Hilary McLean told the Acorn.

McLean said the association could not project increases for low-, medium- and high-risk categories, citing the number of factors and variables involved.

The last resort is becoming the only option

Created by the state in 1968, the FAIR Plan — the name stands for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements — is not a government agency and receives no taxpayer funding. It's a pool backed by insurers licensed in California, designed to provide basic property coverage when homeowners can't find it on the traditional market.

Once a small backstop for hard-to-insure properties, the plan has swelled as insurers have pulled back from California's homeowner market. As of June 30, the FAIR Plan had 696,560 policies in force statewide and roughly $768 billion in total exposure — a 157% increase in policies and a 250% increase in exposure since September 2022.

That growth is visible across Thousand Oaks, where neighborhoods bordering the Santa Monica Mountains and other wildland areas have seen carriers decline renewals in recent years, pushing households toward the FAIR Plan. Residents should also note the plan's limits: a FAIR Plan dwelling policy generally doesn't match a conventional homeowners policy, and policyholders often buy a separate "Difference in Conditions" policy to cover liability, theft and water damage — an added cost on top of rising premiums.

What homeowners can do

The FAIR Plan says policyholders may be able to blunt some of the increase through wildfire mitigation. Homeowners who qualify for all 12 of the plan's home-hardening discounts could pay up to 16.4% less on the wildfire portion of their premium.

Qualifying measures include fire-rated roofs, enclosed eaves, ember-resistant vents, multi-pane windows, and defensible space created by clearing combustible material within 5 feet of the home.

With roughly 5,300 households in the Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park ZIP codes affected — and the steepest increases likely concentrated in the wildfire-prone canyons and wildland-urban fringe — the Oct. 15 rate change is one more pressure point for a local housing market already strained by insurance costs. Homeowners with policies renewing this fall are encouraged to review their renewal notices carefully and ask their agents about mitigation discounts before the new rates take effect.