Source: Randy Shropshire / Getty
Tyler Perry pointed out insurance companies’ failure to cover people who lost their homes in the wildfires in Los Angeles on social media.
As firefighters struggle to eradicate the wildfires plaguing Los Angeles since last week, many have pointed out how the insurance companies have opted not to cover those homeowners who’ve lost their homes. Filmmaker Tyler Perry joined those voices, expressing his anger at those companies in a social media post on Sunday (January 12). He began his post on Instagram by detailing one situation from the fires he saw first-hand. “Watching a daughter use a garden hose to try and protect her 90-year-old parents’ home because their insurance was canceled was just gut-wrenching to me,” he began.
The creator behind the popular “Madea” character continued: “Does anyone else find it appalling that insurance companies can take billions of dollars out of communities for years and then, all of a sudden, be allowed to cancel millions of policies for the very people they became rich on? People who have paid premiums all of their lives are left with nothing because of pure greed.”
He ended by declaring his intent to further support the communities affected by the fires. “As I am in the process of trying to figure out what steps to take to do all I can to help as many as I can, I am keeping everyone in my prayers,” Perry said.
The five wildfires that have sprung up, with the Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires being the most devastating, have forced the evacuation of over 100,000 from their homes. There are an estimated 1,626 homes in the Pacific Palisades that are without insurance after State Farm General announced it wouldn’t renew 30,000 policies in the state after they expired, blaming inflation and costs related to catastrophe exposure.
Other companies such as Allstate, Tokio Marine America Insurance Co., and the Trans-Pacific Insurance Co. also stopped providing home insurance policies. As other neighborhoods such as the historically Black middle-class community of Altadena are severely affected, the state is working to estimate the costs of the damage, which J.P. Morgan Chase analysts claim could be over $10 billion. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement addressing the homeowner insurance issue that “Californians deserve a reliable insurance market that doesn’t retreat from communities most vulnerable to wildfires and climate change.” There have been no recent comments from his office.
