The Lemur is publishing a selection of the most original, compelling, and persuasive final op-eds written in Fall 2025’s Public Policy 301: Political Analysis for Public Policy-Making, taught by Dr. Deondra Rose.
Hurricane season provides an opportunity that is too often wasted. Each year, homes in coastal communities are ravaged, insurers pay out, and homes are rebuilt exactly as they were before. In willful ignorance, we repeat this inefficient cycle, ignoring the climate changes reshaping our coasts.
Our short-sightedness is costly and only makes storms more devastating. For decades, we have known what is coming: rising seas, stronger hurricanes, and extreme weather. Yet, our infrastructure is still built back for a 20th-century climate and is fundamentally unequipped to withstand 21st-century realities. Each storm that passes through reveals the same truth: our built environment, and the insurance system that upholds it, cannot withstand the realities we face. We must stop rebuilding for the past and instead rebuild for the future.
Nowhere is this tension more visible than in coastal insurance markets. As storms intensify, insuring coastal property has become riskier. As a result, homeowners face skyrocketing premiums, and insurers retreat from regions that they deem too costly. This mass exodus is not hypothetical; it is happening in North Carolina. When private insurers pull out, they leave behind families reliant on coverage, communities dependent on stable markers, and economies rooted in rebuilding.
When faced with this reality in North Carolina, the General Assembly was obligated to form the North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (NCIUA). Now acting as the insurer of last resort, the NCIUA provides coverage when the private market fails to do so.Without it, coastal communities would lack an adequate property insurance market, which is vital for economic well-being and development. The NCIUA now insures 64% of coastal NorthCarolina properties across 18 counties.
The NCIUA did not stop at its obligation to fill the market gap. Rather, the non-profit has done what others have not even attempted: reimagining what insurers of last resort must do in the age of climate change. This imagination led the NCIUA to recognize that resiliency is not optional, but essential, and has since incorporated it into its core model, having shattered the rebuild-repeat model.
Since 2017, when repairing storm damage, the NCIUA has provided up to $5,000 to policy holders to rebuild roofs with fortified materials. In the long run, these roofs are stronger, safer, and cheaper. Across the state, the NCIUA has invested $130 million into rebuilding 20,000fortified roofs. Homes with these roofs experience 23% less damage during and file 35% fewer claims following a named storm. This is the largest single-insurer resiliency program in the world–and it is happening right here in North Carolina.
In 2025, the NCIUA went further by forming the first-of-its-kind $600 million reinsurance bond. In the event of a named storm, the bond transfers risk from the NCIUA to investors and ensures that all claims can be paid out. If losses stay below a certain threshold, funds can then be used to install fortified roofs. By enabling payouts and encouraging long-term investment, the bond incentivizes innovation and rewards homeowners and the NCIUA for building back better.
In the face of climate change, utilizing insurance markets to adapt infrastructure is a great opportunity. The argument that public insurers, such as the NCIUA, should focus strictly on payouts misunderstands the current moment. Investing in resilient infrastructure now will save money in the future. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) found that every $1spent on mitigation saves $6 on future disaster losses. By integrating resilience into insurance, the NCIUA has demonstrated that we can not only reduce damage but also stabilize markets, lower household insurance costs, and protect communities when these disasters inevitably strike.
As a nation, we must not continue to neglect the opportunity to build back better. Our state has shown that it is possible, and others should follow suit. When tasked with providing a reliable, affordable insurance market, state governments must recognize that they have the responsibility to not only act as the insurer of last resort but also to serve as innovators, with a duty to protect their constituents and coastlines.
The choice before us is simple: rebuild to our vulnerabilities or build back our future. When insurers recognize that their duty is not only to protect property, but to preserve communities, they can rise to the challenge and turn recovery into renewal. As it stands, resilience is more than a policy choice; it’s a promise to future generations that we won’t wait for disaster to force our hand. The storms will keep coming–whether we are ready for them is up to us.
by Ava Betanco-Born
