Following the recent tornado, data reveal that nearly 70% of property owners in some parts of north St. Louis are underinsured or uninsured, which alarmed St. Louis NAACP leaders.
The storm’s aftermath and the percentage of people who are uninsured and underinsured often leave them open to neglect and unfair insurance practices, which manifest in predominantly Black communities in the area, said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the NAACP's St. Louis city chapter.
“It is in the best interest of the city and the property owner that they (homeowners) are fully insured, because if they're not and the home is damaged beyond repair, the city will lose residents and its tax base,” Pruitt said. “Whatever that property was worth before the storm definitely is not worth it now, so it's a good investment for the city to find a way to bridge that gap.”
The NAACP chapter issued recommendations on May 25, encouraging city officials to act on behalf of uninsured homeowners during this time. The civil rights organization also wants insurance companies to be more transparent with north St. Louis homeowners who hold policies with limited coverage and those who previously held policies that may have been denied for total coverage. Leaders also want state lawmakers to revise insurance laws to help get more homeowners fully covered.
“It's just the bottom line, if I need tuckpointing, that should not deny me the ability to get full coverage insurance for my home,” Pruitt said. “Don't come around and say, ‘Well, I'm going to give you some fire insurance, but that's it, because I don't like the way your roof is.’”
Last fall, the NAACP St. Louis chapter began receiving complaints from homeowners in north St. Louis about insurance companies canceling their policies. Some homeowners said in their complaints that insurance companies flew drones over their properties to assess the roof and other parts of the home, and later canceled their policies due to the condition, citing deferred maintenance as a reason for cancellation.
Over the past few months, the chapter has begun researching various insurance company policies and the Missouri FAIR Plan — a state-mandated program that offers basic insurance coverage to high-risk insurers who are unable to obtain private insurance.
NAACP insurance inquiries
Pruitt submitted a public records request to the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance on Oct. 15 to inquire about any analyses or studies it had conducted regarding whether redlining is occurring in the St. Louis insurance marketplace, specifically in north St. Louis and north St. Louis County.
In an emailed response, the insurance department's senior counsel, Danielle McAfee-Thoenen, said the department “does not categorize such regulatory actions by subject matter (i.e., redlining practices), and the Sunshine Law does not contemplate or require the Department to do so in response to a request for public records.”
McAfee-Thoenen added that the request would require the records custodian to perform a legal analysis to determine if any records are related to “redlining.” The Missouri Sunshine Law does not require the records keeper to do anything more than provide access to requested records.
The department closed the request on Oct. 18 after completing the search for the open records request. The email stated that some records found were closed and contained confidential material, which could not be released subsequently.
On May 18, Pruitt emailed the Missouri Property Insurance Placement Facility (Missouri FAIR Plan) to request full replacement cost coverage for any tornado-related losses under the FAIR Plan, to expedite inspections and claims processing for residents in north St. Louis, and to provide monthly claims reports by ZIP code.
Pruitt said these actions would ensure that people in the hardest-hit areas would have equitable disaster recovery.
Kirk Schmidt, general manager and controller of the Missouri Property Insurance Placement Facility, responded by email on May 22 that his insurance adjusters are conducting assessments and preparing checks for those insured under the Missouri FAIR plan.
“Applicants come to us through a licensed agent to procure an insurance policy if they have been unable to get it in the normal insurance market. If they qualify, we offer them an insurance quote just like any other insurance carrier,” Schmidt said. “Our coverages are very basic, and we do not sell standard homeowners, rather a dwelling fire policy.”
Missouri FAIR Plan insurers also plan to honor any contracts for those suffering from tornado damage. However, Schmidt added that there are a number of fire-only insurance policies under the FAIR Plan that will only cover fire and not damage from tornadoes.
“Many of the properties on our books have substantial deferred maintenance with roofs, gutters, tuckpointing, etc., so did not qualify for our wind and hail endorsement or applied for only fire insurance because of cost or other factors,” Schmidt said in an email.
The Missouri FAIR Plan offers insurance coverage to homeowners in underserved communities. Nearly 30% of the plan’s insured live in St. Louis. According to the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, 67% of homes in north city ZIP codes; 63105, 63113 and 63115 could be uninsured.
Schmidt told St. Louis Public Radio via in an email that the FAIR plan covers one fire-only dwelling policy in 63105 and in 63113 and 63115 the plan covers 189 dwelling policies with 88 being fire-only policies.
“The procedures we use to evaluate applications and properties are consistent throughout the state and are based solely upon the physical condition and value of each property,” he wrote. “Inspections are done when a new policy is written and then approximately every four years thereafter.”
Safety net
To help homeowners who are severely impacted by the storm and will not be able to rebuild their homes because of a lack of insurance, the St. Louis chapter of NAACP is urging legislators to pass the Generational Wealth Protection Act by 2026, including insurance equity requirements and anti-contractor redlining provisions. The organization is also pressing elected city officials to establish an Insurance Recovery Task Force and streamline the process for homeowners to obtain permits, titles and contractors.
The NAACP also wants officials to prioritize legal aid funding, as well as minority- and women-owned business contractor development, and provide direct financial assistance to north St. Louisans. The organization wants lawmakers to enforce insurance companies in Missouri to report insurance and contractor claims and denials to close service gaps.
On May 25, Gov. Mike Kehoe sent President Donald Trump a major disaster declaration request for the recent tornado to help bring federal funding to people whose homes and other property were destroyed by the storm. Kehoe called a special session of the legislature that started on Monday partially to discuss a $25 million tornado disaster relief package and for lawmakers to create a bill to help victims of the May 16 tornado meet their insurance deductibles by lowering taxes.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said Monday that the bill would tremendously help uninsured and underinsured homeowners.
“We want to see that move through, and we're looking at other ways that we can be supportive of residents who may have had homes in their families for decades,” Spencer said.
Spencer also allocated $5 million from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act fund to help stabilize damaged homes from the recent storm. She said the money could help families weatherproof their homes and businesses while they rehabilitate them.
Pruitt said the St. Louis NAACP leaders crafted the recommendation to help illuminate the problems with insurance and provide solutions.
“One is fixing the insurance FAIR Plan so people can really get insurance,” he said. “We want it to become the safety net it professes to be and give some people some financial help. … All it does is increase the city's tax base, ensure that the people stay in the community and raise the property values.”
