00:00I looked at my house, bro, I'm telling you, I couldn't believe it, you know.
00:11I've been in the house for 52 years, and this is horrible.
00:16My bag on the roof was over across the street.
00:21It's a myth.
00:23The windows are broken and stuff, you know.
00:25The whole front porch was gone.
00:28Gone.
00:28A word heard over and over again for the more than 5,000 victims of the May 16th tornado in St. Louis, Missouri.
00:36Five people died, hundreds injured, thousands now homeless.
00:41The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance issued an estimate that said up to 67% of the homes in the three affected zip codes could be uninsured.
00:51I never thought it would happen to me, you know.
00:54I never thought to see it.
00:55Like I said, I'd seen it on TV and read about it, but I never thought in a million years that it would ever come about in here in my neighborhood, especially in my house.
01:06But it did.
01:07Fortunately, 86-year-old Rita Henderson was not at home when the storm hit.
01:12Unfortunately, she is like most of her St. Louis neighbors, without home insurance.
01:17When they got time to renew insurance and stuff, they didn't want to do the neighborhood with reliable insurance.
01:24For 52 years, Henderson lived in her North St. Louis home, raising 11 children.
01:31Now she just wants to move back.
01:32And in the wake of disasters, communities find out, wait a second, there were a lot of homeowners amongst us who did not have that kind of coverage.
01:39So how can we rebuild after this?
01:41Sharon Cornelison is the Director of Housing for the Consumer Federation of America.
01:46Her focus is advocating for fair, affordable housing and equitable mortgage lending.
01:52We found that one in 13 homeowners across the nation does not have homeowners insurance.
01:57A report by the CFA shows nearly 7 million homeowners lack insurance.
02:02That figure amounts to $1.6 trillion in unprotected market value.
02:07Of those findings, 22% of Native American homeowners, 14% of Hispanic homeowners, and 11% of Black homeowners have no insurance.
02:18Houston and Miami claim the most uninsured homeowners by city.
02:22Meanwhile, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Louisiana residents are most likely to not have homeowners insurance.
02:28Homeowners insurance has risen like twice as fast as inflation all over the country.
02:33In some states, like, it's even more, right? It's more than 50% increase in just three years.
02:38So part of the reason why more and more people are, you know, feeling forced to go uninsured or underinsured is because homeowners insurance has just become so expensive.
02:49And I love the house.
02:49Henderson tells Straight Arrow News affordable insurance was not available.
02:54For now, she lives in her daughter's home, her home deemed unsafe.
02:58I would love to have some help to get back in my house.
03:01Her plan? To slowly clean it up, piece by piece, eventually moving back into the home she loves.
03:09She is hopeful FEMA might help with the cost.
03:12They say, oh, you're entitled up to $45,000.
03:14But what we see in practice is that once the assessors come in, they're really kind of low-balling claims.
03:20And, you know, FEMA comes in and they may only get like $10,000 or, you know, $15,000.
03:24Which forces many families to flee their home and look for something else.
03:28And as a result, Cornelison says the entire neighborhood pays the price.
03:32These people are not able to pay taxes, so the tax base is just, you know, getting smaller.
03:36But it's actually really costly for the city to rebuild as well, to rebuild the infrastructure, to demolish homes, to rebuild, right?
03:44So it can be devastating for entire communities as well.
03:48How do you end the vicious cycle?
03:50Cornelison says both federal and state governments need to step in and better regulate the insurance industry, keeping homeowners' best interests at heart.
03:58States could offer like 0% interest loans, grants to help homeowners, you know, upgrade their roof and be more protected when the next storm hits.
04:06But then also states could require insurance companies to then lower rates for homeowners as well.
04:13So if you have a fortified roof, it's really important that the insurance company then also lowers your rates.
04:18So there's kind of a reward for it.
04:20Without change, the cycle can't be broken.
04:22It's just not sustainable for homeowners, right?
04:24We can't just like see rates go up and up and up and up.
04:27And then if that happens, more and more homeowners will, you know, be forced to go without.
04:31I would like to get in my house as soon as I can.
04:34But don't tell that to Rita Henderson.
04:36She may be temporarily displaced, but she is determined to find a way back to the place she calls home.
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