Oregon FAIR Plan: what it covers, what it costs, who qualifies

Does Oregon have a FAIR Plan?

Yes. Oregon has a FAIR Plan: the Oregon FAIR Plan Association, the state's insurer of last resort, created by the Oregon Legislature in 1971 under ORS 735.005 to 735.145 (Oregon FAIR Plan Association). It writes basic property coverage for homes admitted carriers won't take, sold only through licensed Oregon agents.

The plan operates as a non-profit association of all licensed property insurers in Oregon, mandated by ORS 735.045 to take risks the voluntary market declines (Oregon FAIR Plan Association, verified May 2026). FAIR stands for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements. Coverage is named-peril, not the full HO-3 package most homeowners carry; what's in and what's excluded is below.

You apply through a licensed Oregon agent, not directly. The plan's office is at 8705 SW Nimbus Ave., Suite 360, Beaverton; phone 503-643-5448; the official site is orfairplan.com. The sections that follow break down perils, coverage limits, eligibility, the application path, and what it typically costs against the voluntary market.

What does the Oregon FAIR Plan cover, and what does it exclude?

The Oregon FAIR Plan writes a named-peril dwelling policy: it covers only the specific perils listed in the contract, not 'all risks.' Base coverage includes fire, windstorm, hail, explosion, riot or civil commotion, aircraft, vehicles, smoke, volcanic eruption, and vandalism (Oregon FAIR Plan Association). If the cause of loss isn't on that list, the policy doesn't pay.

Exclusions are wider than most homeowners expect: the base policy doesn't cover personal liability, theft, personal article floaters, water damage, flood, or earthquake (Oregon FAIR Plan Association). It's also written on an actual cash value (ACV) basis only, with no replacement-cost option (Oregon FAIR Plan Association). ACV pays depreciated value at the time of loss, not the cost to rebuild new; on a 30-year-old roof, the gap is real.

Loss history can narrow that coverage further. After multiple windstorm losses, for example, a policy can be restricted to fire-only unless you make mitigation improvements (PropertyCasualty360, citing Oregon FAIR Plan Association).

The FAIR Plan dwelling policy is one piece, not the whole answer. To put liability, theft, and water damage back, the Oregon FAIR Plan now pairs with a wrap HO-3 written through AccessOne80 and Hamilton Insurance DAC, which sits alongside the FAIR Plan dwelling policy (Oregon FAIR Plan Association). The DIC section below covers when you'd want it.

What does the Oregon FAIR Plan cover, and how much?

The Oregon FAIR Plan caps a single residential or farm dwelling policy at $600,000 and a commercial building policy at $1,000,000, effective May 1, 2023 (Oregon Division of Financial Regulation). Those were the first increases since 2016, raised from $400,000 residential and $700,000 commercial. If your home's replacement cost runs higher than $600,000, the plan can write above the cap on a case-by-case basis through facultative reinsurance, arranged by your agent with the plan rather than promised on demand.

The base policy is named-peril, not all-risk: fire, lightning, and extended coverage (windstorm, hail, explosion, riot or civil commotion, aircraft, vehicles, smoke). It is narrower than a standard HO-3 homeowners policy and pays on different terms; contents coverage is optional and added by endorsement, not automatic. Liability, theft, water damage, flood, and earthquake are not on the form. If your rebuild cost is at or under $600,000, the cap will hold; if it isn't, the gap is the part a difference-in-conditions wrap is built for, covered in the sections below.

Who qualifies for the Oregon FAIR Plan

If admitted carriers won't write your home, you most likely qualify. The Oregon FAIR Plan Association (OFPA) is open to any property owner with an insurable interest in Oregon property who can't obtain coverage in the standard market and who meets the plan's underwriting standards (Oregon FAIR Plan Association, verified May 2026). Individuals, farms, and commercial owners can all apply.

Oregon does not set a fixed numeric declination test. There is no published "declined by two carriers" or "declined by three carriers" rule the way Texas runs its plan. The standard is plainer: you've tried the voluntary market and can't get covered there. A licensed agent's documentation of that effort is what the plan looks at.

Two specifics worth knowing before you apply, because they catch people out:

• Vacant properties are not eligible. If the home is unoccupied, the FAIR Plan won't write it. Vacant-home coverage is a different product, usually written through excess and surplus (E&S) lines.
• Credit history is not an underwriting factor. A thin or damaged credit file won't sink an application here, which is unusual and useful to know.

Rental and investor-owned property are not categorically excluded, but the property still has to be occupied and meet underwriting standards, the same as an owner-occupied home. Prior claims and condition issues are looked at on the merits, not against a bright-line cutoff. Applications go in through a licensed agent or broker, not directly; the application path is covered in the next section.

How to apply for the Oregon FAIR Plan

You apply through any Oregon-licensed property insurance producer or agent. The Oregon FAIR Plan Association (OFPA) does not sell directly to consumers, and no special OFPA appointment is required; premiums are the same whichever licensed agent assists you (Oregon FAIR Plan Association, verified May 2026). If you already work with an independent agent, start there.

An online Quick Quote is available at orfairplan.com for dwellings, farms, and mobile homes, but a quote is not a policy. Producers cannot bind coverage themselves: a policy is in force only when the OFPA Underwriting Department accepts the completed application (Oregon FAIR Plan Association). That distinction matters if a lender is asking for proof of coverage by a close date; what they need is the bound policy or its binder, not the quote.

To keep the application moving, have ready: the property address and year built; rebuild cost or recent appraisal; the prior carrier's name and the non-renewal or cancellation notice; any recent inspection or roof-age documentation; and, for the diligent-search step, the names of admitted carriers that declined to write you. OFPA does not publish a guaranteed turnaround. The practical sequence is: agent submits, OFPA underwriting reviews, OFPA accepts and binds; ask your agent for a written timeline on submission day and confirm the bind date in writing before relying on it.

How much does the Oregon FAIR Plan cost?

The Oregon FAIR Plan is generally more expensive than a standard homeowners policy and gives you significantly less for the money. It's a last resort, not a price-competition fallback. The base policy pays losses at actual cash value (depreciated value, not replacement cost), covers a narrow set of named perils, and excludes liability and theft entirely, so the lower coverage ceiling does most of the price work against you.

On the rate side, the plan raised rates 15% effective June 1, 2023, its first rate change since 2015 (Oregon FAIR Plan Association, verified May 2026). Eight years of flat rates ending in a single 15% bump is the headline: this is a stripped-down policy whose price still moved meaningfully in one step, because the wildfire losses behind it did. The plan doesn't publish a public average premium, and an Oregon FAIR Plan quote varies with the dwelling, the location, and the construction; expect to pay more than a comparable admitted-market policy would have cost before you were non-renewed, for less coverage.

What that means in practice if your premium just jumped or you've been non-renewed: budget for the FAIR Plan premium plus the cost of a separate policy to fill the gaps. To get replacement cost, liability, theft, and water-damage coverage back, you'd pair the FAIR Plan with a difference-in-conditions (DIC) wrap, sometimes called a companion policy, written by a non-admitted (excess and surplus, or E&S) carrier through a surplus-lines broker. The wrap's own cost is on top of the FAIR Plan premium, which is the real comparison to make against any admitted-market quote you can still find. Eligibility and how to apply are below.

What's changed at the Oregon FAIR Plan recently?

Three things, in roughly this order: a long-overdue limit increase, the first rate filing in eight years, and a 2023 statute that materially changes how carriers can use wildfire risk maps. Policy counts are growing, but still small in absolute terms.

Effective May 1, 2023, the Oregon FAIR Plan Association raised its dwelling and farm coverage limit to $600,000 and its commercial limit to $1 million, the first increase since 2016 (Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, verified May 2026). A 15% across-the-board rate increase followed on June 1, 2023, the plan's first rate change since 2015. Above the $600,000 cap, the practical fix is the AccessOne80/Hamilton HO-3 wrap partnership now sold alongside the base FAIR Plan policy.

Policies in force, by year-end: 1,425 at end-2021, 1,535 at end-2022, 1,698 at end-2023 (OFPA, via the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation). End-2024 and end-2025 figures weren't on the public record at compile time, though the applicant pipeline has reportedly grown as standard carriers non-renew high-hazard wildfire properties. For exposure context: the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University's January 7, 2025 wildfire hazard map identified roughly 106,000 tax lots in high-hazard or WUI zones, about 6% of Oregon's 1.9 million total tax lots.

The load-bearing recent statute is SB 82 (2023), which bars insurers from using state-produced wildfire risk maps to cancel, non-renew, or raise premiums, and requires a property-specific written explanation for any wildfire-related non-renewal. It sits alongside SB 762 (2021), which authorized the hazard map, and SB 80 (2023), which directed the map's revision after public backlash to the 2022 draft. Statutory basis for the plan itself remains ORS 735.045. Member-insurer assessment activity and any 2024 or 2025 rate filing aren't on the public record as of the verified-at date; see the changelog for updates as DFR posts them.

What is a difference-in-conditions (DIC) wrap, and who sells one in Oregon?

A difference-in-conditions policy, often called a wrap, is a second policy that sits alongside the FAIR Plan and fills the gaps the FAIR Plan leaves: liability, theft, water damage from internal plumbing, and the other standard-homeowners coverages the base FAIR Plan policy doesn't include. Most Oregon FAIR Plan buyers need one, because a lender writing a mortgage will typically require liability coverage and a coverage form closer to a standard HO-3 before they'll accept the policy as proof of insurance at close.

In Oregon, the named wrap product paired with the FAIR Plan is offered through a partnership between ACCESS ONE80 and Hamilton Insurance DAC, announced by the Oregon FAIR Plan Association on its What's New page (Oregon FAIR Plan Association, verified May 2026). It's structured as an HO-3 wrap with liability that supplements the basic FAIR Plan dwelling policy, so the two policies together approximate the coverage shape a lender expects from a single HO-3.

Premium for a DIC wrap isn't publicly published as a single figure; it depends on the home, the location, and how much of the gap the wrap is filling, and the OFPA notice doesn't quote a dollar range. The practical move, if your closing is on the clock, is to ask the agent writing your FAIR Plan binder to quote the ACCESS ONE80 / Hamilton wrap at the same time, so both binders land before the lender's deadline.

Are there alternatives to the Oregon FAIR Plan?

Yes, two, and both are worth trying first: small specialty admitted carriers, and the excess and surplus (E&S) market.

An admitted carrier is one licensed in Oregon, with rates and forms on file with the state insurance regulator and the state guaranty fund standing behind claims if the carrier fails. Household-name insurers retreating from Oregon's wildland-urban interface aren't the whole admitted market; smaller regional and specialty carriers sometimes still write what the majors won't. An independent agent running several carriers at once is the fastest way to find out who is binding policies in your ZIP, rather than a captive agent who writes only one.

If the admitted market declines you, the next stop is the E&S market, also called non-admitted or surplus lines: carriers placed through a licensed surplus-lines broker after a documented search of the admitted market comes up empty. E&S routinely writes broader coverage than a FAIR Plan policy (liability, theft, and water damage included) at a price that sits between the voluntary market and the FAIR Plan. The trade-off is no state guaranty-fund backstop if the carrier fails, so the broker's job is to place you with a financially strong one. See admitted vs. surplus lines for the full distinction.

The order, then, is admitted first, E&S second, FAIR Plan last. The FAIR Plan is the backstop for everyone the other two channels turn down, not the starting point.

What to do this week

1. Read the non-renewal notice line by line. Check the effective date; that's your deadline to have new coverage in place. Note the reason the insurer gave, because that becomes important if you decide to push back on the notice. Put the date in your calendar today.
2. Get quotes from at least three admitted carriers before you go to the FAIR Plan. An independent agent licensed in Oregon can run several admitted-market quotes at once. If your home is in the wildland-urban interface or has prior claims on its CLUE record, you may strike out. That's normal, not a sign you did something wrong.
3. If admitted carriers decline, ask a licensed Oregon agent or broker to write the FAIR Plan for you. You cannot apply to the Oregon FAIR Plan directly; access runs through a licensed producer. Have your declination letters or quote rejections ready, because the plan needs proof the voluntary market won't take you.
4. Decide whether you need a wrap policy alongside the FAIR Plan. The FAIR Plan covers fire and a short list of extended perils but excludes liability, theft, and water damage. A difference-in-conditions (DIC) policy from a surplus-lines carrier fills those gaps. Your agent can quote one alongside the FAIR Plan application.
5. Send proof of coverage to your lender before the existing policy lapses. Mortgage servicers will force-place insurance the day your old policy ends, and force-placed coverage is the most expensive option on the market. A binder from the FAIR Plan plus the DIC binder is what your servicer needs.
6. If you're still stuck, see the full non-renewal walkthrough for the timeline of what to do in the first 30 days and how to push back on the notice itself.