Category: Property & Casualty

Affordable Housing’s Growing Insurance Problem

Even though many academics are sounding the alarm over the housing affordability crisis in the United States, the affordability problem continues to intensify. Recently, researchers at Freddie Mac increased their 2018 housing shortage estimation by 52% to 3.8 million housing units.  In addition to the staggering increases in development costs over the last decade, escalating operational costs are threatening the affordable housing industry. One of these unseen costs that is significantly impacting the successful operation of affordable housing organizations is insurance.    Continue reading

OSHA Releases Emergency Temporary Standard for COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing

Update:  On Saturday, November 6, a U.S. federal appeals court issued a court order temporarily halting the implementation of OSHA’s ETS .  While this type of ruling …Continue Reading

Hurricane Preparedness for Businesses

With the peak of hurricane season upon us, it is important for businesses to know how to proactively minimize potential loss and maximize loss prevention in the event of a hurricane. Being well prepared is critical to this objective and to keeping your business as healthy as possible.

Pre-storm Property Preparation

Even before a hurricane forms, businesses can start preparing. A good first step to take is to check local flood maps and have a licensed professional inspect your building to ensure it complies with the wind loading requirements of your area. Consider also installing impact-resistant film on windows and reinforcing any potentially weaker points in the building. Create a list of companies which can assist in recovery efforts should heavy damages occur.  Continue reading

Captive Insurance for ESOP Companies

Chad Duke, Vice President/Risk Advisor, and Pim Jager, Vice President/Benefits Consultant, were recently featured on the ESOP Podcast discussing captive insurance and Scott Insurance’s collaboration with the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) to create two new captive programs exclusively for ESOP companies, OWN Health (health insurance) and OWN Risk (property and casualty).  Continue reading

Captive Insurance for the Affordable Housing Industry Uncovering the strategic benefits of a unique approach to risk financing

As Affordable Housing organizations face their annual insurance renewals, many have been surprised at the level of premium increases they are experiencing.  Today’s challenging and volatile insurance market is having significant impacts across the industry and has led many forward-thinking industry leaders to consider alternative risk financing mechanisms, such as captives.  While our Affordable Housing Team has received increasing questions about captives, this isn’t just anecdotal. According to industry trends, interest in captive insurance in the U.S. has risen greatly in the first quarter of 2021.  So, if you aren’t already considering whether a captive might be a good fit for your organization, now may be a good time to begin the conversation.  Continue reading