Has the FAIR Plan stopped growing in Ojai?

Ojai's 93023 gained 1,103 FAIR Plan policies in four years, from 598 on September 30, 2022 to 1,701 on September 30, 2026. That nearly tripled the count, a 184% rise.

The climb slowed but did not stop. Ojai's count was 1,603 on September 30, 2025, so it grew 6% in the latest year, and 93023 ranked 84th in California by count.

Before the climb, the FAIR Plan was a small part of Ojai's market. In 2022, it covered 525 of the 6,821 insured homes in 93023, or 7.7%, while California's share was 3.2%.

Ojai home policies outside the FAIR Plan saw 743 non-renewals in 2023, out of 6,751. That 11.0% rate compares with 8.7% statewide. The Department of Insurance's counts take in owners who left by choice, after a sale or a switch.

Ojai's 93023 has a flag the FAIR Plan carries, in the Plan's reports dated March 31 and September 30 of 2026.

Yes, until December 23, 2026. Bulletin 2026-01 lists 93023 under the Gifford Fire, for one year starting December 23, 2025, the day the Governor declared the emergency.

The ban covers non-renewals and cancellations over wildfire risk for policies in place on December 23, 2025. It does not stop a cancellation or non-renewal for another reason, such as an unpaid bill.

CAL FIRE's page says the Gifford Fire started August 1, 2025, northeast of Santa Maria, and was contained October 14, 2025, after 131,612 acres. The Governor's declaration came more than two months after containment.

Ojai's ZIP code has been listed three times before. Each earlier moratorium has ended, and how a wildfire moratorium works explains what they protect.

• Maria Fire: one year from October 27, 2019, the date of the Governor's statewide declaration.
• Mountain Fire: one year from November 7, 2024, under Bulletin 2024-13.
• Olivas Fire: one year from January 7, 2025, under Bulletin 2025-1.

The Thomas Fire began December 4, 2017, at Highway 150 and Highway 126, north of Santa Paula. CAL FIRE dates its containment to January 12, 2018.

The Ojai Valley's Community Wildfire Protection Plan, written with the Ventura County Fire Department and finished in 2024, counts about 476 structures lost in the valley. That was close to half of the fire's total losses.

The same plan estimated that 2,777 structures in its planning area sat in a High or Very High hazard zone on the state's fire maps.

The FAIR Plan grades risk its own way. On September 30, 2026, it put 340 of its 1,701 Ojai policies in its High wildfire tier, 1,106 in Medium and 255 in Low.

CAL FIRE's zone maps serve local planning rather than insurance decisions, in the words of a Department of Insurance alert from April 4, 2025. Insurers use their own wildfire models, which produce a home's wildfire score.

Inside the City of Ojai, no. The City Council's Resolution 16-07, adopted in 2016, confirmed the city's ban on rentals of 30 days or less, for a whole home or a part of one.

Rentals longer than 30 days are allowed in the city. Hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts are exempt from the ban.

Most of 93023 lies outside the city. Census Bureau maps from 2020 put only about 2% of the ZIP code's land inside the City of Ojai.

In the county's Ojai Valley overlay zone, Ventura County bars short-term rentals unless the home was a historic landmark as of June 19, 2018. Home shares are allowed with a yearly permit, if the owner lives there and stays during each rental.

A Ventura County home share must carry business liability coverage with a $500,000 minimum for each occurrence, the county's rental questions and answers say. Ask your insurer in writing how paying guests affect your own policy, and read what a home-sharing add-on does first.

The Ventura County Fire Protection District serves the City of Ojai and unincorporated Ventura County. It is one of the agencies the Board of Forestry named Fire Risk Reduction Communities for 2026, on June 17, 2026.

A community discount appears on the FAIR Plan's wildfire discount sheet of November 2025, when a home lies within a community on that list. The Plan decides each Ojai address, and the sheet notes that its discounts may change.

Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 count 2.0% of Ojai's homes as second or seasonal homes, near California's 2.4%. Casa's questionnaire takes an Ojai second home too, and asks a few extra questions about how it is used.

A FAIR Plan policy centers on fire, so compare policies that can replace it at each renewal. Start with standard insurers, and turn to specialty insurers after that. Most homeowners never see them, because they're sold only through licensed agents and brokers.

Whenever an insurer will not renew an Ojai home policy, it must send notice at least 75 days (90 days beginning January 1, 2028) before the policy ends.