I got the word from one of their neighbors, a friendly cashier at my neighborhood supermarket: “The Allens are back in their house on 28th Street.” A couple of days later, an email arrived from a housing agency, confirming that good news.
On a Sunday in June 2023, Arthur and Adriane Allen were burned out of their home; they had no homeowners insurance to cover the cost of recovery. I wrote a column about the situation because it seemed so bleak: Not only were they without insurance, but the Allens had exhausted their savings.
The house and all its contents had been severely damaged by a fire that started in the rear of the residence during a summer drought. A Baltimore Fire Department report said the blaze possibly started in “light vegetation,” then quickly spread to a deck and the back of the house, then to a second-floor bedroom.
The Allens would need about $150,000 to repair and return to their home.
They bought the house in 1988 and owned it outright for most of the years since.
During the reporting for my Sun column about the Allens, I was surprised to learn that a homeowner’s policy is not required by Maryland law. Most mortgage holders insist that a purchaser get it and keep it, but some people either can’t afford it or decide to take the risk they won’t need it.
In some parts of the country — certain areas of Florida and California most affected by climate change, for example — insurance companies are no longer writing new policies. Things are not quite as dire in Maryland, but a report from the state insurance commissioner in 2024 cited an increase in insurance companies refusing to renew certain policies, a response to significant losses elsewhere from climate-related natural disasters.
As with the Allens’ house, lack of insurance could cause a house to stay vacant after a fire or flood for months, even years, even forever.
“Once a home is paid for and the mortgage is paid off, it’s up to the customer at that point whether to keep insurance on the home or not,” says John Koch, owner of the Koch Insurance Agency in Harford County. “No law says you have to keep insurance on property as it does on an auto.”
Though the outlook for the Allens and their house seemed bleak, they did not give up on finding a solution. They ended up getting a lot of help from friends and strangers.
One of Adriane Allen’s co-workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mary Rykiel, set up a GoFundMe site that raised more than $10,000 for the family.
Jen Lyon, a rehab specialist with Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore, worked with the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development — specifically, Nicole Hart, the deputy commissioner for homeownership — to cobble together three funding sources for the rebuild.
I asked Lyon to list the people and organizations who deserve some credit for helping the Allens get back into their house.
City Councilwoman Odette Ramos, Lyon said, was involved from the start and “advocated for the Allens throughout the process, keeping pressure on city agencies for initial funding and emergency housing.”
Architect Kevin O’Reilly of St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center provided expertise on the rebuild, and Greater Heights Remodelers was the general contractor.
The Allens are grateful for all of this help. The funding sources relieved them of two-thirds of the cost of the rebuild, and they’ll pay off the rest over 30 years.
And they’ll have homeowners insurance this time.
“No one died, not even our two dogs,” both Arthur and Adriane Allen said in separate interviews, referring to the fact that their children and grandchildren, along wih a homeless teenager they had taken in, all survived the fire. Their gratitude starts with that fact.
The Allens will now return to their home, and it will be a full house, with children and grandchildren, and the two dogs — Winnie and Shadow.
Dan Rodricks’ column appears weekly in Baltimore Fishbowl. He can be reached at danrodricks.com
Dear Dan:
Good Article.
Housing, not good here.
Peace, thanks for caring!