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Hurricane Ian walloped Cape Coral, Fla. Two years later housing costs have spiked
Jerry Smith moved to Cape Coral from New Jersey because, “it was my vision of what I wanted the Florida lifestyle to be like.”
Greg Allen/NPR
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Greg Allen/NPR
CAPE CORAL, Fla. — The Atlantic Hurricane Season, which starts Saturday, is forecast to be an especially active year.
On Florida’s southwest coast, more than a year and a half after Hurricane Ian’s high winds and flooding caused more than $117 billion in damage, the fallout continues. Housing costs and insurance have spiked, prompting many to put their homes up for sale.
Concerns about hurricanes and climate change have raised questions about the long-term affordability of coastal communities like Cape Coral. The city of more than 200,000 residents near Fort Myers is on the coast, but there are no beaches. What Cape Coral does have is 400 miles of canals giving many homes direct boat access to the Gulf of Mexico.
Jerry Smith moved to Cape Coral from New Jersey three years ago during the COVID pandemic. Standing on his back patio, he looks out on his pool and tiki hut, along with his dock and boat. “If you’re living on the canal and you have access to the Gulf of Mexico, it was my vision of what I wanted the Florida lifestyle to be like,” he said.
Smith’s house received only minor damage in Hurricane Ian. But like just about everyone here, he’s seen his insurance rates go up. “The insurance industry has been tough on people here in Cape Coral,” he says. “There are significant raises in rates. And I think it’s one of the burdens that people have to really contemplate. Can they afford it?”
One thing most everyone agrees on in Cape Coral is that it could never be built today. In the late 1950’s, developers bought a 100-square-mile peninsula on Florida’s Gulf coast where they bulldozed mangroves, drained wetlands and dug hundreds of miles of canals. It was a classic Florida real estate venture, with lots sold on the installment plan and advertised as a “waterfront wonderland.” A marketing video at the time touted “the clean, clear air” and “the miles of blue water.”
For retirees and others relocating from the Northeast and Midwest, realtor Sam Yaffe says, Cape Coral had an advantage over places like Sarasota and Miami. “People started discovering us,” she says. “Our prices are cheaper.” In recent months though, sales have slowed in Cape Coral. Yaffe says, ”It is unusual. We do have several months’ worth of homes available.”
The main reason for the cooling of the once-hot Cape Coral home market is mortgage interest rates, now at a 20-year high. But there’s another important factor. Amir Neto, an economist at Florida Gulf Coast University says, “The cost of homeownership in southwest Florida has increased. And that has pushed some people away of those coastal areas, including Cape Coral.”
Spiking insurance rates are a big part of that. A study by a research group, First Street found that Cape Coral has more properties at risk of flooding than any other city in Florida. Jeremy Porter with First Street says to understand why, you just need a map. “Look at all that water,” he says. “For every home almost, there’s a canal. And as you live with water every day, if one of these storms come through, it is going to cause flooding. And the canals themselves are going to be a source of that.”
Following Hurricane Ian, FEMA is now reevaluating the risk of homes in several communities in southwest Florida, including Cape Coral. The federal agency recently announced it’s pulling the city’s long-standing discount on flood insurance. The decision, related to what FEMA said was improper rebuilding after Ian, would immediately raise flood insurance rates by 25%. Cape Coral’s mayor John Gunter called the FEMA action, nearly two years after Hurricane Ian “another catastrophic event.” At a city council meeting, he said, “This could cause other families not to even be able to live in their homes because of the cost of premiums.”
Cape Coral is appealing the FEMA decision. The city recently held hearings for more than 200 homeowners suspected of violating FEMA guidelines. One of those was Sherry Oakes. Her house had only minor damage after Ian and she was able to show that at the hearing. But she’s skeptical the city’s flood insurance discount will be reinstated. “It’s actually kind of scary,” she says. “Because there are just so many things right now that are going to really increase the cost of living here.”
Oakes says she and her husband Ray already pay $8,000 a year in insurance, costs that will go up if FEMA eliminates the flood discount. It’s one reason she thinks so many homes now are for sale.” I think a lot of people that are in the flood zone don’t want to pay these astronomical prices,” she says.
Cape Coral homeowner Sherry Oakes’s home was mistakenly tagged for violations by the city despite having only minor damage.
Greg Allen, NPR
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Greg Allen, NPR
The cost of insurance is expected to keep rising. By 2050, because of more powerful hurricanes and the rising sea level, Jeremy Porter with First Street says nearly every single home in Cape Coral will face flood risk. Insurance, he says, is beginning to reflect the impacts of climate change. “We’ll hear from people, ‘The housing market’s been increasing. It’s been exploding the last few years. Climate change isn’t having any impact.’ Then they’ll pause and say, ‘But insurance is killing us.’”
Homeowner Jerry Smith agrees there’s a rising cost to living so close to the Gulf, but one he’s confident people will always be willing to pay. “The appeal,” he says. “The sun, the water. The marine life, the beach, not having to endure the winter. All those things make it worth the investment.”
Realtors say prices have dropped a little for houses on the market now in Cape Coral. But with interest rates high, more than half of the buyers now are paying cash.
One observer of the current Senate race in Louisiana noted that Sen. Bill Cassidy could lose his reelection bid.
Annie Flanagan for NPR
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Annie Flanagan for NPR
Sen. Bill Cassidy lost Saturday’s Louisiana Republican primary according to a race call by the Associated Press.
Cassidy, who served two terms in the Senate, was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict President Trump after the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. That vote put him at odds with Trump and his MAGA coalition, ultimately leading Trump to push Rep. Julia Letlow to run against Cassidy.
Cassidy’s bid for a third term was viewed as a test of Trump’s grip on the party–and of what voters want from their representatives in Washington. The primary pitted Cassidy, a veteran lawmaker, former physician and chair of the powerful Senate health committee, against Letlow, a political newcomer and a millennial MAGA loyalist.
A detailed view of a hat that reads, Run Julia Run, is seen at a campaign event for Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) on May 6, 2026 in Franklinton, Louisiana.
Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images
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A former college administrator, Letlow won a special election in 2021 for the House seat her late husband, Luke, was set to assume before he died from COVID in 2020.
In Congress, Letlow sponsored a bill to collect oral histories from the pandemic and has focused on education and children. She introduced the “Parents Bill of Rights Act,” which would allow parents to review classroom materials like library books and require schools to notify parents if their child requests different pronouns, locker rooms or sports teams.
She also serves on the powerful appropriations committee and has embraced Trump’s agenda.
Letlow, who came first in Saturday’s primary, will face Louisiana state Treasurer John Fleming in the runoff on June 27. Cassidy came in third.
The election result is a victory for President Trump who has put Republican loyalty to the test on the ballot so far this year in Indiana state senate primaries and in Cassidy’s race.
Another major test of Trump’s influence comes in Kentucky’s primary on Tuesday when Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has found himself at odds with the president, faces a challenger endorsed by Trump.
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Brass bands in Beijing make way for sticker shock at home as Trump returns to escalating inflation
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump returned from the spectacle of a Chinese state visit to a less than welcoming U.S. economy — with the military band and garden tour in Beijing giving way to pressure over how to fix America’s escalating inflation rate.
Consumer inflation in the United States increased to 3.8% annually in April, higher than what he inherited as the Iran war and the Republican president’s own tariffs have pushed up prices. Inflation is now outpacing wage gains and effectively making workers poorer. The Cleveland Federal Reserve estimates that annual inflation could reach 4.2% in May as the war has kept oil and gasoline prices high.
Trump’s time with Chinese leader Xi Jinping appears unlikely to help the U.S. economy much, despite Trump’s claims of coming trade deals. The trip occurred as many people are voting in primaries leading into the November general election while having to absorb the rising costs of gasoline, groceries, utility bills, jewelry, women’s clothing, airplane tickets and delivery services. Democrats see the moment as a political opportunity.
“He’s returning to a dumpster fire,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal think tank focused on economic issues. “The president will not have the faith and confidence of the American people — the economy is their top issue and the president is saying, ‘You’re on your own.’”
The president’s trip to Beijing and his recent comments that indicated a tone-deafness to voters’ concerns about rising prices have suggested his focus is not on the American public and have undermined Republicans who had intended to campaign on last year’s tax cuts as helping families.
Trump described the trip as a victory, saying on social media that Xi “congratulated me on so many tremendous successes,” as the U.S. president has praised their relationship.
Trump told reporters that Boeing would be selling 200 aircraft — and maybe even 750 “if they do a good job” — to the Chinese. He said American farmers would be “very happy” because China would be “buying billions of dollars of soybeans.”
“We had an amazing time,” Trump said as he flew home on Air Force One, and told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview that gasoline prices were just some “short-term pain” and would “drop like a rock” once the war ends.
Inflationary pain is not a factor in how Trump handles Iran
Trump departed from the White House for China by saying the negotiations over the Iran war depended on stopping Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
That remark prompted blowback because it suggested to some that Trump cared more about challenging Iran than fighting inflation at home. Trump defended his words, telling Fox News: “That’s a perfect statement. I’d make it again.”
The White House has since stressed that Trump is focused on inflation.
Asked later about the president’s words, Vice President JD Vance said there had been a “misrepresentation” of the remarks. White House spokesman Kush Desai said the “administration remains laser-focused on delivering growth and affordability on the homefront” while indicating actions would be taken on grocery prices.
But as Trump appeared alongside Xi, new reports back home showed inflation rising for businesses and interest rates climbing on U.S. government debt.
His comments that Boeing would sell 200 jets to China caused the company’s stock price to fall because investors had expected a larger number. There was little concrete information offered about any trade agreements reached during the summit, including Chinese purchases of U.S. exports such as liquefied natural gas and beef.
“Foreign policy wins can matter politically, but only if voters feel stability and affordability in their daily lives,” said Brittany Martinez, a former Republican congressional aide who is the executive director of Principles First, a center-right advocacy group focused on democracy issues.
“Midterms are almost always a referendum on cost of living and public frustration, and Republicans are not immune from the same inflation and affordability pressures that hurt Democrats in recent cycles,” she added.
Democrats see Trump as vulnerable
Democratic lawmakers are seizing on Trump’s comments before his trip as proof of his indifference to lowering costs. There is potential staying power of his remarks as Americans head into Memorial Day weekend facing rising prices for the hamburgers and hot dogs to be grilled.
“What Americans do not see is any sympathy, any support, or any plan from Trump and congressional Republicans to lower costs – in fact, they see the opposite,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Thursday.
Vance faulted the Biden administration for the inflation problem even though the inflation rate is now higher than it was when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 with a specific mandate to fix it.
“The inflation number last month was not great,” Vance said Wednesday, but he then stressed, “We’re not seeing anything like what we saw under the Biden administration.”
Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 under Biden, a Democrat. By the time Trump took the oath of office, it was a far more modest 3%.
Trump’s inflation challenge could get harder
The data tells a different story as higher inflation is spreading into the cost of servicing the national debt.
Over the past week, the interest rate charged on 10-year U.S. government debt jumped from 4.36% to 4.6%, an increase that implies higher costs for auto loans and mortgages.
“My fear is that the layers of supply shocks that are affecting the U.S. economy will only further feed into inflationary pressures,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon.
Daco noted that last year’s tariff increases were now translating into higher clothing prices. With the Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s ability to impose tariffs by declaring an economic emergency, his administration is preparing a new set of import taxes for this summer.
Daco stressed that there have been a series of supply shocks. First, tariffs cut into the supply of imports. In addition, Trump’s immigration crackdown cut into the supply of foreign-born workers. Now, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off the vital waterway used to ship 20% of global oil supplies.
“We’re seeing an erosion of growth,” Daco said.
Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, the Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, said she was fired from the agency Friday after she declined to resign.
She said she did not know who had ordered her firing or why, nor whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. knew of her fate. The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The departure reflected the upheaval at the F.D.A., days after the resignation of Dr. Marty Makary, the agency commissioner. Dr. Makary had become a lightning rod for critics of the agency’s decisions to reject applications for rare disease drugs and to delay a report meant to supply damaging evidence about the abortion drug mifepristone. He also spent months before his departure pushing back on the White House’s requests for him to approve more flavored vapes, the reason he ultimately cited for leaving.
Dr. Hoeg’s hiring had startled public health leaders who were familiar with her track record as a vaccine skeptic, and she played a leading role in some of the agency’s most divisive efforts during her tenure. She worked on a report that purportedly linked the deaths of children and young adults to Covid vaccines, a dossier the agency has not released publicly. She was also the co-author of a document describing Mr. Kennedy’s decision to pare the recommendations for 17 childhood vaccines down to 11.
But in an interview on Friday, Dr. Hoeg said she “stuck with the science.”
“I am incredibly proud of the work we were doing,” Dr. Hoeg said, adding, “I’m glad that we didn’t give in to any pressures to approve drugs when it wasn’t appropriate.”
As the director of the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, she was a political appointee in a role that had been previously occupied by career officials. An epidemiologist who was trained in the United States and Denmark, she worked on efforts to analyze drug safety and on a panel to discuss the use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the most widely prescribed class of antidepressants, during pregnancy. She also worked on efforts to reduce animal testing and was the agency’s liaison to an influential vaccine committee.
She made sure that her teams approved drugs only when the risk-benefit balance was favorable, she said.
The firing worsens the leadership vacuum at the F.D.A. and other agencies, with temporary leaders filling the role of commissioner, food chief and the head of the biologics center, which oversees vaccines and gene therapies. The roles of surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also unfilled.
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