LI homeowners squeezed out by insurers

Richard Boodman of Long Beach is finding the homeowner insurance market as rough as the waves that can crash on the shoreline of his hometown. Boodman recently got notice from Liberty Mutual that his policy would not be renewed because his home is 1,000 feet away from the water.

Like thousands of other Long Island residents have had to do in recent years, Boodman is searching for a new homeowner insurer and finding fewer choices and higher premiums. "There are no optimists anymore," Boodman said of insurance providers.

Insurers, for their part, say they fear a catastrophic storm hitting Long Island could wipe out their capital reserves.

Wednesday in Manhattan, a state panel charged with studying New York's homeowner insurance market will consider changes to rules governing companies that write homeowners' policies. The Temporary Panel on Homeowners Insurance Coverage meets from 2 p.m. at the Insurance Department at 25 Beaver St.

Chaired by New York Insurance Commissioner James Wrynn, it includes consumer representatives, insurers, insurance agents and brokers, building code experts and weather experts appointed by the legislature and the governor. The committee will discuss new regulations the department proposed last month.

Changes under consideration include having a windstorm deductible apply only when a hurricane makes landfall and reducing the number of nonrenewals an insurer may issue without notifying state regulators.

A key task for the panel is to plan a strategy addressing "the many issues that affect coastal homeowners." There have been 145,000 nonrenewals of homeowner insurance policies in New York City and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties since 2007. That number is about 14 percent of New York's "coastal area homes" - mostly on Long Island, said Andy Mais, a department spokesman.

Boodman is still searching for a policy. So far he's found just two firms - neither licensed by New York - who will provide coverage. He expects to pay between $300 and $1,000 more a year than his $1,900 Liberty Mutual policy, which expires next month.

"I've spoken with a few companies," Boodman said. "There's not much out there."

The meeting is open to the public but the committee won't take public comments.

The meeting is a "planning session" aimed at "getting everything started," Mais said. As the panel develops draft recommendations, open hearings taking testimony from "all interested parties will be held," he said.

Not allowing public comment at today's meeting was a mistake, said Assem. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach).

"Why not have it down here?" Weisenberg said. "I'm outraged. I'm going to invite them [the panel] to come down and meet the people impacted."