New report exposes the hidden force driving up home insurance rates: ‘It is a problem affecting every single one of us’

Home insurance rates are skyrocketing, and many homeowners can't keep up with the payments.

What's happening?

If your homeowners insurance went up this year, you're not alone. An ABC13 analysis of the Texas Department of Insurance rate filings revealed that "requests by companies to increase homeowners insurance rates have more than doubled over the last decade."

No states require residents to have homeowners insurance, but if you are financing your home, your lender most likely requires it. Homeowners who forgo insurance take on the risk of financing repairs — like roof or flood damage from hurricanes — out of pocket.

Texas resident John Cobarruvias is just one of many homeowners who can't afford the insurance, and can't afford to ditch it, either.

"They're stuck," Cobarruvias said, per ABC13. "It is a problem affecting every single one of us."

Why are these insurance rates concerning?

Texas isn't the only state struggling to pay their insurance. Homeowners across the entire country are seeing rising rates, with Nevada, Florida, Louisiana, and Utah among the top 10 most impacted, per the National Association of Realtors.

Watch now: How bad is a gas stove for your home's indoor air quality?

Insurance rates are carefully calculated and can increase for many different reasons, like inflation, rising labor and material costs, tariffs, and even climate change. But insurance costs are rising far beyond their normal rates and becoming completely unsustainable. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, the "average homeowners insurance premiums per policy increased 8.7 percent faster than the rate of inflation in 2018-2022."

For homeowners in areas affected by extreme weather, the problem is even worse. Not only do they experience drastically higher premiums, but some insurance companies refuse to cover high-risk areas or drop them entirely.

What's being done about rising insurance rates?

Homeowners should do their due diligence and shop around for lower rates, but unfortunately, many analysts attribute the rising rates to the insurance system itself.

The executive director of consumer advocacy group Texas Watch, Ware Wendell, told ABC13 that a big part of the problem is insurance companies "don't have to wait for approval from the Department of Insurance before they start charging rates under our current laws because we've got this file and use system which allows them to file their rates and start using them immediately."