Hawaii FAIR Plan (HPIA) and Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF): what they cover and who qualifies

Does Hawaii have a FAIR Plan?

Yes. Hawaii has a FAIR Plan: the Hawaii Property Insurance Association (HPIA), created by the 1991 Hawaii Legislature under Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 431, Article 21, with its first policy issued in March 1992. It writes basic property coverage on homes admitted carriers won't take: all perils except hurricane, which a separate state fund covers.

The HPIA operates as Hawaii's insurer of last resort, writing four policy forms (a Dwelling form among them) for homes that licensed carriers decline. It's a member-insurer pool, not a state agency: every property insurer licensed in Hawaii participates and shares the risk (Hawaii Property Insurance Association, verified May 2026).

Hurricane is the gap. HPIA policies exclude it. After Hurricane Iniki in 1992, the 1993 Hawaii Legislature created the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) under Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 431P. HHRF went dormant once the private market recovered. Gov. Josh Green reactivated the fund in 2024, and the 2025 legislative session passed SB 1044 (Act 296), narrowing its scope to hurricane-only excess coverage for condominium and townhouse Associations of Apartment Owners. The Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division administers the fund (verified May 2026).

Coverage limits, eligibility, the application path, and what to add on are spelled out in the sections that follow.

What does it cover?

The Hawaii Property Insurance Association (HPIA) writes basic property coverage on four standard ISO forms: a Dwelling policy (DP 00 02), a Homeowner's policy (HO 00 02), a Renter's policy (HO 00 04), and a Unit-owner's policy (HO 00 06). All four are named-peril contracts: they pay only for losses caused by perils the policy lists. That list runs to sixteen: fire or lightning; windstorm or hail; explosion; riot or civil commotion; aircraft; vehicles; smoke; vandalism; theft; falling objects; weight of ice, snow, or sleet; accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam; sudden and accidental tearing apart of a steam or hot-water heating system; freezing; sudden and accidental damage from artificially generated electrical current; and volcanic eruption (PropertyCasualty360 State FAIR Plans reference, verified May 2026).

Two perils are conspicuously absent: hurricane and flood. The Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) handles hurricane, and only as excess coverage above the first $10 million of insured value, which means an Association of Apartment Owners (AOAO) must carry separate primary hurricane coverage for that first $10 million (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division, verified May 2026). Flood requires the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood policy.

Because of that split, Hawaii has no California-style DIC wrap product. Condo associations layer three pieces: a private or excess-and-surplus-lines primary hurricane policy for the first $10 million, HHRF excess hurricane above that, and HPIA or a private carrier for non-hurricane perils. Single-family homeowners pair HPIA with a separate hurricane policy wherever the private market will still write one. HPIA has historically been the principal market for residential property in Lava Zones 1 and 2 on Hawaii Island, and under SB 1044 (Act 296, 2025) its powers were expanded to write all-perils-except-hurricane coverage for eligible condo and townhouse buildings statewide.

How much will it cover?

HPIA's dwelling limit (Coverage A) tops out at $450,000, with policies written between $50,000 and $450,000 and a choice of $500, $1,000, $2,000, or $3,000 deductibles (Hawaii Property Insurance Association, verified May 2026). For many Hawaii homes that is below current rebuild cost. The cap was set well before the post-2023 jump in Maui construction prices, and Lava Zone properties on Hawaii Island routinely cost more to rebuild than HPIA alone will pay.

If your home's replacement cost exceeds $450,000, HPIA covers up to that ceiling and the rest comes from a separate policy. The usual route is a difference-in-conditions wrap: a second policy from a non-admitted (surplus lines) carrier that fills the gap. The figure that matters is the home's replacement cost, not market value.

Contents, personal property, and loss of use coverage attach to the dwelling figure on HPIA's Dwelling form rather than being capped separately; the exact percentages appear on the declarations page issued at binding.

The $450,000 cap does not govern the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF), a separate excess product for condo and townhouse associations. HHRF attaches above the first $10 million the association already insures and goes up to $140 million per policy (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division, verified May 2026). That is a per-building number for the association, not a per-unit dwelling cap.

Who is eligible?

The Hawaii Property Insurance Association writes for any property owner with an insurable interest in Hawaii property who can't obtain coverage in the private market. Per PropertyCasualty360, HPIA requires the property to have been declined by two licensed residential property insurers before it will write. Historically the plan has been the principal market for homes in Lava Zones 1 and 2 on Hawaii Island, where the voluntary market won't write at all.

Applications go through a licensed Hawaii property and casualty agent, not directly to HPIA, and a $250 deposit premium is required to bind the policy. The eligibility rule does not turn on owner-occupancy: an owner-occupied home, a long-term rental, or a second home can all qualify if the insurable-interest test and the two-declination test are met.

Condo associations sit in a separate channel. The Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) reopened to applications on June 24, 2025 (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division) and is restricted to an Association of Apartment Owners (AOAO) of a condominium or townhouse, applying through a licensed producer. The AOAO must already carry primary hurricane coverage on the first $10 million of insured value; HHRF writes excess above that attachment point. HHRF policies run one year and do not auto-renew, so the board has to reapply annually. Single-family homeowners, investors holding individual condo units, and renters are not eligible for HHRF directly; their route is HPIA and the private market.

How do you apply?

Through a licensed Hawaii property and casualty agent. The Hawaii Property Insurance Association does not sell direct to consumers, so you go through an agent who files the application on your behalf. A $250 deposit premium binds coverage, with the balance due on receipt of the policy (Hawaii Property Insurance Association, verified May 2026).

Bring the non-renewal letter, the property address, and the prior policy's declarations page; the agent needs those to complete the HPIA application. If you don't already have one, any independent agent licensed in Hawaii to write property and casualty can submit to HPIA. A good agent will run the admitted market first; if a voluntary carrier will write you, you don't need the FAIR Plan.

For a condominium or townhouse, the route is different. The association (AOAO) applies to the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund through its own licensed insurance producer; individual unit owners do not apply themselves. Administration sits with the Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division and the HHRF board, which began accepting applications on June 24, 2025.

The bind is when coverage takes effect; the policy follows. If a lender is asking for proof while a mortgage is in progress, the binder is what they accept until the formal declarations arrive (see: what an insurance binder is).

How much does it cost?

HPIA premiums run higher than the standard homeowners market for narrower coverage, the conventional trade-off for an insurer-of-last-resort policy. Hawaii's plan doesn't publish a current average residential premium or a posted rate-filing percentage, so a precise number isn't on the public record; the cost varies by island, by Lava Zone, by construction type, and by how much Coverage A the homeowner binds up to the $450,000 dwelling cap (Hawaii Property Insurance Association).

What pushes HPIA premium up is the location and the peril. The plan has historically been the only fire-and-extended-coverage option for properties in Lava Zone 1 or Lava Zone 2 on Hawaii Island, where the voluntary market will not write at all; that geographic concentration of risk is the reason the rate sits above standard-market quotes (Hawaii Property Insurance Association).

The cost picture on the condo and townhouse side has moved noticeably since late 2025. Associations (AOAOs) that have shifted the hurricane layer of their master policy out of excess-and-surplus carriers and into the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) were reporting hurricane premiums down roughly 30 to 70% after the move, according to reporting by Hawaii News Now (December 2025), corroborated by the Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division. By April 2026, use of the fund was reportedly growing as more associations brought their hurricane coverage in.

For a single-family homeowner staring at an HPIA quote, the comparison that matters is HPIA plus a difference-in-conditions wrap for liability, theft, water, and the gap above the $450,000 cap, against any admitted carrier still willing to write the home as a single HO-3. The premium spike that triggered the non-renewal is its own line of questions; see the premium-jump playbook for the standard ways to bring the total down without sacrificing rebuild cost.

What is changing right now?

Two forces are reshaping Hawaii's residual market: the condo-hurricane shock of 2023 to 2025, and the legislative response captured in SB 1044 / Act 296 (2025). HPIA continues as the principal writer for Lava Zone 1 and 2 residential property on Hawaii Island; the new reform layers a parallel hurricane facility on top of it.

After the August 2023 Maui (Lahaina) wildfire and a hard global reinsurance market, roughly 375 to 390 condominium buildings became underinsured for hurricane, some AOAOs reported hurricane premiums up by as much as 1,000%, and the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac requirement of 100% hurricane coverage froze condo mortgage lending on the affected buildings (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division, verified May 2026).

The response came in two pieces. Governor Green reactivated the dormant Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) in 2024, and SB 1044 / Act 296 (signed 2025) expanded HPIA's powers: HPIA can now write all-perils-except-hurricane coverage for condo and townhouse buildings statewide, the bill funded the HHRF, established a Condominium Loan Program, and directed the Insurance Commissioner to study market-stabilization strategies (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division). The HHRF began accepting applications on June 24, 2025, writing hurricane-only excess above $10M TIV on one-year non-renewing policies up to a $140M maximum policy (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division). By late 2025 and early 2026, AOAOs in the HHRF layer reported hurricane premiums down roughly 30 to 70%, with fund usage growing (Hawaii News Now, December 2025; corroborated by the Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division).

For agents and lenders, the operational picture is straightforward. HPIA remains the entry point for Lava Zone 1 and 2 residential risk and for property the voluntary market declines; the HHRF now sits as a separate hurricane-excess layer for AOAOs above the $10M TIV threshold. The Insurance Commissioner since July 16, 2025 is Scott K. Saiki, with Jerry Bump returning to Chief Deputy Insurance Commissioner (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division); rate filings and bulletins are posted at cca.hawaii.gov/ins. The next material change will likely come from the Commissioner's market-stabilization study mandated by Act 296; the dated HPIA and HHRF timeline is on the changelog.

Do you also need a wrap (DIC) policy?

Sort of, but not the California-style single difference-in-conditions policy you may have read about. Hawaii doesn't market a standalone DIC product. The "wrap" here is structural: a stack of separate policies that, together, do what one DIC does elsewhere (Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division, verified May 2026).

For a condominium association, the standard stack runs in three layers. A private or excess-and-surplus carrier writes the primary hurricane policy for the first $10 million of total insured value. Above that, the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) writes the hurricane excess, up to a $140 million maximum policy. HPIA or a private carrier writes the non-hurricane perils alongside. Lenders financing a unit in that building will want declarations pages from each layer; added together, those pages have to satisfy the master-policy requirement in the loan file.

For a single-family home on HPIA, the equivalent stack is simpler: the HPIA policy carries the basic property perils, and a separate hurricane policy is paired alongside it where the private market will write one. If no private hurricane carrier will take the home, the gap is real, and the loan file should reflect it before close rather than after.

For the underlying concept and how a DIC normally functions in states that do sell one, see what a difference-in-conditions policy is.

Alternatives to the FAIR Plan in Hawaii

Before the FAIR Plan, work the voluntary market in this order: an independent agent running several admitted carriers, then small specialty admitted carriers that write homes the big nationals decline, then excess and surplus (E&S) lines. The FAIR Plan is the floor, not the first stop.

An admitted carrier is one licensed and regulated by the state, which means rate filings are reviewed and Hawaii's guaranty fund stands behind unpaid claims if the carrier fails. An E&S carrier (also called non-admitted or surplus lines) is licensed elsewhere and approved to write coverage the admitted market won't take; the rates aren't filed, the policy forms are negotiable, and there is no guaranty-fund backstop. For an older home, a condo with a recent loss, or a property in a high-risk area, an E&S quote may be the only voluntary-market offer on the table, and the price gap to the FAIR Plan can run either direction. See admitted vs surplus lines for what each one means at claim time.

The practical path is an independent agent who can run all three markets in one pass. If admitted and E&S both decline, the FAIR Plan is what's left, usually paired with a difference-in-conditions wrap for the perils it doesn't cover.

What to do this week if you just got a non-renewal notice

1. Find the effective date on the non-renewal letter and work back from there. Set a calendar reminder for two weeks before, because that is when you want a new policy bound, not the day coverage drops.
2. Call two or three independent agents this week. An independent agent can run several admitted carriers at once (admitted means licensed and regulated by the state). If your home is in a brush-fire-prone area, on a lava-zone lot, or has claims history, they may strike out. That is the normal pattern in Hawaii's 2025-2026 market.
3. If the admitted carriers decline, ask the agent to quote the Hawaii Property Insurance Association. HPIA is the state's insurer of last resort and you apply through a licensed agent, not directly. Bring the declinations the admitted carriers gave you; HPIA expects evidence you could not place coverage elsewhere.
4. Get a difference-in-conditions quote alongside the HPIA quote. The FAIR Plan covers a narrow band of named perils; a DIC, sometimes called a 'wrap', is a second policy that fills the gaps HPIA leaves out: typically liability, theft, and water damage.
5. Save every document. Keep the non-renewal letter, every quote, every declination email, and the binder you eventually accept. If a future coverage gap or non-renewal is ever disputed, this is the paper trail that settles it.
6. File a complaint with the Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division if a carrier or agent will not return calls, refuses to put a declination in writing, or quotes something that does not square with the notice received. The Division handles consumer complaints at no cost.

See: what to do after a non-renewal notice.