Denver Post
Monday, January 05, 2004
By Karen Rouse
Denver Post Staff Writer

Plight of Glendale apartment-fire survivor highlights nationwide lack of policies

Mary Altenbern sat at a corner table in Starbucks at Glendale's newly renovated Target last Wednesday, dropped her face in her hands and sobbed.

The pair of sweatpants, underwear and shoes the 43-year-old nurse and medical student purchased at the superstore on New Year's Eve are her only possessions now.

Everything she owned - including $1,800 in furniture, plus the $1,200-bedroom set she paid off on Dec. 3, and $5,000 in medical books - burned in the Dec. 28 fire that gutted the Spanish Gate apartment complex. Like most of the tenants, she had no renter's insurance.

"I didn't think I needed it," said Altenbern, who is now living with her girlfriend and relying on donations and her own income to replace lost items. "You never think you're going to need it."

Of the 40 families displaced by Sunday's fire, only one had renter's insurance, said Sara Spaulding, communications director for the Mile High chapter of the Red Cross, which has been assisting displaced tenants with mental health and nursing services, shelter, food and clothing.

"With most of the fires we respond to, most people do not have insurance," Spaulding said.

For the cost of a few lattes, a music CD or a large pizza, renters could buy personal property and liability coverage each month, said Michelle Boley, an agent for State Farm Insurance in Denver's Cherry Creek area.

"If you can afford a CD or a pizza each month, then you can afford renter's insurance," she said. Most policies cost $10 to $15 per month, for about $20,000 of coverage, she said.

Renter's insurance costs an average of $168 a year, said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

The policies cover most of the perils covered by a homeowner's policy, such as damage from fire, windstorms, theft, vandalism, riots and water loss if there is damage to pipes, Walker said.

It also covers liability "if somebody got hurt on your property or your dog bit someone," and that person sued you, Walker said.

"You really can't afford not to have it," she said.

Yet many renters don't. Nationally, about 25 percent of people who rent their home carry renter's insurance, compared with 96 percent of homeowners who carry homeowner's insurance, Walker said. That percentage reflects Colorado as well, she said.

"It's really a vulnerable group," she said. "That's the heartbreaking thing when you see a fire like that."

Insurance professionals say renters without insurance have several misconceptions. They believe that renter's insurance is too expensive, that their possessions aren't worth much, or that in case of a disaster they will be covered by their landlord's insurance.

The latter belief, Boley said, is a "big myth." Landlords' policies only cover the structure, she said.

As for the idea that the typical renter's possessions are not valuable enough to warrant insurance, Boley points out that a typical apartment contains about $30,000 worth of items, from toothbrushes and computer equipment to furniture and DVDs.

"A lot of people don't have that much in savings," she said. "Even if you had to replace a set of dishes, you're going to be out $30 or $40."

Some renters also believe, erroneously, that there is a substantial government safety net that will catch them after a catastrophe, insurers say.

But when a disaster occurs, uninsured renters are "reliant on whatever services the county or that city provides," Boley said. Charitable organizations and the public will often rally to provide clothing and furniture donations and temporary housing assistance, but not to the extent that an insurance policy would, she said.

"These people in Glendale are at the mercy of either friends or family members. If they don't have friends or family members, it's basically social services," she said.

Doug Dean, insurance commissioner for Colorado, said that while there is no law requiring homeowners to carry insurance policies, most homeowners have them because they can't get a mortgage without coverage.

For renters, there is no such incentive, he said.

"Most people feel that it's not worth the cost of the insurance. But when it happens to you, it's very bad," Dean said. "Unless they possess a valid insurance policy, there's nothing that the Division of Insurance ... can do."

Altenbern had renter's insurance when she moved to the Spanish Gate apartment complex in 1999. But as her medical school costs grew, she decided to slash a bill.

"I didn't know how big a hassle it would be," said Altenbern, whose two cats, Gizmo and B-B, died in the blaze. When the fire struck, "I had just bought a teeth-whitening system. I had just bought groceries. I had just bought a couple new books."

The consequences can last long after a disaster hits. A year after fire consumed the 24-unit Summit at Thornton complex, Diane O'Shea has yet to replace everything that was destroyed.

That includes the gas grill she bought her husband as a gift, the camping gear the family used each summer and the rolling pin she used to bake pies.

O'Shea, her husband, Richard, and son, Ryan, escaped through their second-story window, and watched the complex burn.

"You're standing out there the whole time, seeing everything in your apartment and you can't have it," she said. "We got a blanket, sat outside, and cried."

The family was moved to an empty apartment and had nothing to put in it. Clothing donations poured in, but O'Shea said she also needed little things, like pencils.

Days after the Dec. 14, 2002, fire, she was using her older son's cellphone and needed to write down a phone number.

"I had nothing to write with," she said. "With my finger, I tried to rub (the phone number) in the carpet."

Like Altenbern, the O'Sheas had allowed their renter's insurance to lapse.

"It ran out in November and we thought, 'OK, Christmas is coming up and we're a little hurt for money. ... We'll just wait until Christmas is over and we'll take it over in January,"' O'Shea said. "Seeing (the Spanish Gate fire) was like reliving it all over again."

Rebuilding without insurance takes "a long time, even after a year," she said, "unless you've got a really good job and can afford to get what you need."

Kelly Campbell, spokesperson for State Farm Insurance Companies, recommends that renters take an inventory of their possessions - from toothbrush to sofa - and calculate their value.

"You need to think how much should it cost to replace these items, even your wardrobe ... if you need a pair of jeans tomorrow because your jeans burned," said Campbell. "Get out a camera, take a bunch of pictures. Keep that documentation off-site."

Since the fire in Glendale, Boley said existing renter's insurance policyholders have been calling to make sure they're covered. One day in the week after the fire, she said, she sold four rental policies.

"We usually don't get cold calls on anything except auto insurance," she said.

Industry professionals hope the fire prompts renters to reconsider not having coverage.

"For the people that are lucky enough to be watching this," Walker said, "they need to be seeing it as a wake-up call."