It’s a strange sort of research organization that spends its time finding ever more creative ways to destroy residential real estate.

But that’s exactly what the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) was set up to do — and for good reason. By learning how properties are damaged by extreme weather and wildfire, the non-profit is able to craft better, more resilient building standards that can save homeowners and insurers alike boatloads of cash.

In this episode, Michael Newman — General Counsel and Managing Director at IBHS — unpacks the organization’s purpose and activities, from tearing model homes apart at its research campus in South Carolina to working with partners on inventive ways to bankroll resilient housing.

Michael challenges the conventional wisdom that the climate crisis is an insurance crisis, pointing instead to a complex web of factors — inflation, litigation costs, and population growth in high-risk areas — that are making insurance accessibility and affordability more challenging. He also explains why hardening homes in line with IBHS’ FORTIFIED and Wildfire Prepared Homes standards can go a long way to lowering homeowners’ vulnerability to escalating weather risks, and how his organization is working to spread these standards far and wide.

For those wanting to understand how the US can shield its US$55trn housing market from a warmer and wilder world, Michael’s insights are not to be missed.