The move did not happen overnight. For Tamika Jackson, it was a slow burn that drove her out of New Orleans.
A costume designer in the TV industry, Jackson, 47, had moved here a decade ago from New York City after New Orleans “cast its spell,” with the French Quarter’s charm and community of creative types. She fell in love with it and bought a home in the 7th Ward, where she lived with her then-boyfriend and two cats, Dre and Maize.
But the insurance crisis contributed to Jackson’s decision to leave New Orleans after huge price hikes to insure her home coincided with other factors that pushed her to move to Atlanta.
“I have changed insurance companies like four times. It’s crazy,” said Jackson, now a full-time Atlanta resident. “There was just no math that was going to make it work.”
Climate change, inflation and a series of other factors have upended the home insurance market, a crisis that is infiltrating more and more states but has hit Louisiana especially hard. Residents all over south Louisiana were hit with staggering price shocks since Hurricane Ida in 2021, threatening their ability to continue paying their mortgages.
Now, insurance is the breaking point for many. In interviews with The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, many residents said they are leaving or thinking about it because of the staggering costs.
For Jackson, insurance hikes came after other troubles of living in New Orleans. It seemed like every year, she had to fight with the Sewerage and Water Board and Entergy over outrageous utility bills. Crime spiked after the pandemic. The omnipresent hurricane season loomed large in her mind, threatening her biggest asset.
Tamika Jackson, 47, fell in love with New Orleans and moved here a few years ago. But a host of issues, including the insurance crisis, pushed her out.
Like many in New Orleans, Jackson faced a home insurance bill that rose from $3,000 a year to $10,000. She slowly migrated to Atlanta, spending part of the time in New Orleans, before renting out both sides of her double. But the insurance hikes escalated to the point that she was losing money every month, despite taking in income from her renters. Last month, she put the house up for sale.
It’s not clear to what extent insurance is contributing to Louisiana’s depopulation, as the state has experienced some of the nation’s steepest population losses in recent years, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. But dozens of residents in hurricane-and-flood-prone south Louisiana said in interviews that climate change and insurance costs have them worried about the long-term sustainability of staying.
Those risks can make communities financially intolerable long before they’re physically inhabitable. Many said they worry their homes will lose value as people hesitate to move to areas with high insurance rates and significant hurricane risk.
Jackson said the 230% increase to her insurance bill “shook” her. It was like she no longer qualified for the house she owned. And it came after New Orleans “exhausted” her with errant sky-high utility bills, crime and the threat of losing her car to a flood.
“Atlanta for me is kind of boring,” she said. “But it’s kind of nice. I know what my electric bill is going to be. I just never have those fights. … There’s just way less drama.”
Read next: How is Louisiana’s insurance crisis hurting business? Ask Stein’s Deli in New Orleans.