28 BCBUSINESS JULY/AUGUST 2019
therefore aect your insurance rates in
already expensive Vancouver.
Staring further down the good news/
bad news barrel, University of Calgary
biologist Laura Coristine says, "You're
fortunate that you even get to carry
insurance—some regions don't even
qualify now." For example, the neigh-
bourhoods in Ontario and Quebec that
have endured so-called 100-year †oods
multiple times in the past few years won't
be able to purchase insurance coverage
at any cost.
Even in Vancouver, some would-be
clients are ˆnding themselves priced out
of the market—or buying insurance that
actually doesn't cover very much, says
Tony Gioventu, executive director of the
Condominium Home Owners Association
of BC. As the region's plentiful stacked,
woodframe condo buildings grow older,
Gioventu reports that many strata asso-
ciations are having to ˆle repeated insur-
ance claims to repair †ood damage from
burst pipes; after which, those same stra-
tas wind up facing deductibles of up to
$100,000. Gioventu and Thompson also
recommend that in this changed climate,
every insurance purchaser should look
particularly closely at the list of exemp-
tions. "The carriers are really tightening
up the terms," Thompson says.
This being the current circumstance,
Coristine says we all would be better o
economically if we spent more money
trying to mitigate climate risk, rather
than waiting to manage increasingly
catastrophic expenses. Her argument has
some appeal when you consider what a
25-percent increase adds up to, even in a
single market like Vancouver.
Gioventu says there are between
20,000 and 22,000 strata corporations in
Metro Vancouver, ranging from duplexes
to 800-unit complexes. That means there
are roughly 600,000 units, for which
insurance costs range from $550 to $950
each. Take an average premium price,
$750, multiply it by 600,000, and you
come up with $450 million. Tack on
25 percent and it's a cool $112.5 million,
or $187.50 for every strata unit in town.
That's the average likely increased
premium—this year alone.
And even without dipping into the
very scary prospect of an earthquake,
Gioventu says, "The last time there was a
hurricane in Vancouver was 1964. With
climate change, we might be due."
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