Businesses would usually carry insurance for physical damage to the property they rent. So this would cover losses of the fixtures and physical things inside: chairs, tables, inventory.

You'd need separate insurance for what's called business interruption. It's not something most places buy for a lot of reasons. And even that wouldn't cover the cost of relocating, paying staff while they can't work, etc.

The damage to the building itself would fall under the insurance of the owners of the building, not the businesses renting. (Though the building is owned by two of the resident businesses.)

Basically, there are a lot of knock-on effects from an event like this. Some businesses need to relocate, some are just closed indefinitely. Even if some insurance is available for the owners of the businesses, it's rarely carried, and wouldn't protect the staff of those businesses.

(And I want to note that business interruption insurance usually has a very narrow scope, and doesn't include things like pandemics, which was the most recent time when the few folks who had business interruption insurance got royally screwed by insurance companies.

Insurance is for the business owners and property owner

It does not, for instance cover the employees, especially the barber and salon employees who now have no income and no place to work any more (barring the awesome nearby salons that offered chairs to affected workers ..)

Basically there are a ton of people who are gonna have a shitty time

And the organiser of the GoFundMe is legit and well known in Roslindale. I've hired his law firm before to negotiate a partnership agreement. He's solid and well invested in the local community

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Insurance will cover a lot (and is usually mandatory) but there's a gap between when this kind of thing happens and when insurance pays out. Things like salaries and bills keep coming and there's no income. Sure perhaps a healthy business would have an emergency fund to cover that stopgap but let's be real most local businesses operate pretty month to month in terms of finances. (Also this GoFundMe wasn't even set up by the businesses, I never understand how these things get so many donations because there's nothing stopping the organizer from just pocketing that money)

Insurance typically covers the loss of products, building, and equipment, but AFAIK doesn't cover profit losses from being unable to reopen.

A few guesses:

• Money is money

• Insurance can be a slow process

• Filing insurance claims can be very tricky and you may not get full value for what you've lost

Insurance is compartmentalized. While the structure owner may have some insurance on the structure, those leasing space likely did not. They may have some general liability coverage for their business and possibly some fire insurance. In general as lease holders they might only have the equivalent of renter's insurance like some apartment dwellers may contract. They likely may also have coverage under their liability policy for loss of income but that can be limited to certain specific conditions to be met.

Insurance companies rarely do not pay out full amounts of coverage and claims can take as much as a year or more to be processed. Like the rest of the world, their companies are also backlogged and short handed.

A friend of mine lost their business due to building damages to years ago and they had to vacate. They only received a fraction of what their loss was for damaged and no longer usable furniture and supplies. Similarly loss of income which was also in the policy only paid out a meager sum, and it took over a year for the claim to be processed. I'd also note that this was also a situation of no challenge to the insurance company's pay out. Had that happened the claim would have been recycled back to square one and a new and full recalculation would take place. The claim could have carried on for years.

Near me a home owner had a fire and his coverage was less than what current damages are rated at. When most of these policies were written it was before current inflation and replacement or repair costs. The building remains vacant and the fire happened over 6 months ago. The claim is still being processed. Sad to say, this is now the norm. We expect the boarded up structure to be in that condition for at least 6 more months if not more while the haggling continues.

My own property insurance was increased by over $350 for the coming year whereas in the past we only saw a few dollars per year increase over a 5 year period. That is quite a jump and other property owners are seeing as much if not more with their annual premiums. If you do maintain renter's insurance expect a big increase when you renew.

So the GoFundMe is seeking to span the gap and the time lag. At this point, no one is making any money to exist. Hopefully some will have savings or other fallback position.

And the host of the GoFundMe is a well-established attorney in that community.

Universal Hub is a micro-local niche website run by a single person who gets by on a few ads and a set of patreon subscribers.

And you are bitching about lack of in-depth reporting?

A ton of posts on that site come from readers who send in pictures and "news" -- I've done that on more than a few occasions. It's a community-driven platform.

Reset your expectations.

And then go fuck yourself.

While light on details, it highlights that the damage was even worse than I had previously thought. An economy sedan has destroyed an entire store.

And of course it was all "an accident" so the driver won't be charged. Public justice will be outsourced to insurance companies to arbitrate how much damage this incompetent driver did.