A 16% windpool increase lands on coastal condo owners as a dues increase
A 16% windpool increase lands on coastal condo owners as a dues increase
2026-09-15 · Mississippi · Regulation · Reported — unconfirmed
Reported: the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association — the coastal windpool — raised rates by 16% effective January 1, 2026. Commissioner Mike Chaney announced it at the Neshoba County Fair in late July 2025.1
We could not find a Mississippi Insurance Department press release or a rate-filing order announcing this figure on mid.ms.gov; the 2026 press-release page contains nothing on windpool, condominium or homeowners rate filings. The 16% is well corroborated in the trade and regional press, and the effective date has passed, but treat the number as press-reported rather than filed-and-verified.
Why it lands on associations rather than on homeowners
In Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties, standard carriers routinely exclude wind and hail from property policies. Coastal condominium associations therefore obtain master wind coverage through the windpool.
The consequence is that a windpool rate increase does not arrive in a unit owner's personal insurance bill. It arrives in the association's master policy premium, which is an operating expense, which is funded by assessments. A 16% windpool increase is an assessment increase with a delay.
The reasoning behind it
Chaney tied the increase to the rollback of state subsidies that had held coastal rates down. He said the state has pushed more than $400 million since 2005 into buying reinsurance to subsidise Gulf Coast rates, and called that unsustainable. His stated durable fix is mitigation and stronger construction — citing Alabama's more than 55,000 FORTIFIED projects and rates 20 to 40% below Mississippi's.
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