GULFPORT, Miss. – At the corner of Highway 90 and Debuys Rd. are two vacant lots. Both have been abandoned since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but one is under construction for a new business. Experts say it’s a snapshot of commercial and residential insurance today.
Up the road at the Harrison County campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, the Gulf Coast Business Council and other organisations have put together a regional policy forum to focus on coastal insurance.
“It’s educational. It’s something that’s not going away, so it was necessary to talk about it today,” said Jamie Miller, president and CEO of the Gulf Coast Business Council.
The bad and the ugly, he said, is the increase in insurance rates due to inflation and natural disasters outside of Mississippi.
“It’s still affecting business owners, homeowners and our workforce. It’s a competitiveness issue for our business and industry. If your insurance costs are higher in another part of the region or other parts of the country, that’s something we have to pay attention to,” Miller said.
He also told us that it’s unlikely that any firm solutions will come out of the forum, but that the discussion should lead to some progress with insurance leaders.
The event was held at MGCCC’s IMAC facility and co-sponsored by the South Mississippi Planning and Development District.
