insurance

Access to insurance is critical for low-income consumers and low-income communities. Without the right kind of insurance, a family cannot purchase a home, drive a vehicle to a job or pay preventive and emergency medical expenses. Without the right kind of insurance, nonprofit affordable housing developers cannot build rental or homeownership housing for people of low and moderate-incomes. Without the appropriate level of investment from insurance companies, neighborhoods cannot fully develop and revitalize. CRC fights to make equal access to insurance a reality in California. CRC has advocated that state insurance redlining data be collected and made available to the public, so that the people can see which insurance companies discriminate against low-income communities and communities-of-color by not offering them policies and by not working with insurance agents in underserved neighborhoods. CRC also advocates at the state level against redlining of affordable housing projects by insurance companies that will not make fairly priced insurance policies available to nonprofit affordable housing developers to build much-needed low-cost housing opportunities for seniors, families, persons with disabilities, farmworkers and other Californians-in-need. Finally, CRC urges that insurance companies be required to reinvest some of the huge premiums they receive from California consumers back into their communities, just as banks are required under the Community Reinvestment Act to reinvest deposits back into neighborhoods where they are present. CRC will continue to fight discriminatory insurance practices and promote insurance reinvestment in order to promote community development in California.