Four days ago, Gov. Josh Green signed an emergency proclamation to provide stopgap relief to condominiums experiencing crippling increases in property insurance premiums. This emergency action is warranted and was a proactive measure to stabilize the crisis.

Last year, the property insurance market entered a cyclical period known as a “hard market.” A hard insurance market is characterized by increased premium payments, restrictions on coverage terms, and decreased availability for most types of insurance.

Hawaii is not alone in this experience. Industry professionals nationally have observed an average increase in insurance premiums of 300%-500% for wood frame condos and 50%-200% for concrete high-rises. Some insurers have decided to stop writing polices for certain types of dwellings or to reduce their risk exposure by not renewing expiring policies.

There are several contributing factors to this phenomenon. One is the steady increase in catastrophic disaster events around the world, such as wildfires, floods and hurricanes. These events have shaken investor confidence in the risk calculations of property insurers. Insurers have responded by increasing premiums and decreasing insurance availability in areas that are deemed more prone to disasters.

In the condo market, increases in the costs of repair and replacement projects have exacerbated the problem. In older condos, for example, the risk of losses due to deferred maintenance is contributing to higher premiums and triggering policy non-renewals.

Due to the hard market, there are less insurance options available for condo associations to obtain coverage. Fewer insurers offer condo master polices in Hawaii, and many will only cover part of a condo’s entire risk. Condo associations are then forced to use unregulated, or “surplus lines” insurers to cover the rest of the building’s hurricane exposure, generally at higher rates, premiums and deductibles.

Rising costs have also led some condos to go underinsured. This complicates matters, since federal lending rules require condos to maintain full coverage. As a result, underinsured condos that fail to meet these requirements may be ineligible for mortgage financing.

In June, the governor formed a task force to recommend actions to mitigate the impacts of this hard market. The task force includes the insurance commissioner, legislative leaders, and representatives from the insurance, real estate and banking industries.

Wednesday’s emergency proclamation, which was recommended by that task force, authorizes the governor to loan funds to the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) and Hawaii Property Insurance Association (HPIA) to establish and finance insurance policies that can be made available to eligible condos. The proclamation also increases coverage limits so that master policies can be made available to large buildings.

HHRF and HPIA have been in this situation before — both were created to provide homeowners insurance in the early 1990s when insurers left Hawaii in the aftermath of Hurricane Iniki and the Kilauea eruption.

These are initial recommendations and will not entirely resolve our property insurance challenges. They are intended to provide a layer of insurance coverage that would not otherwise be available in Hawaii.

The task force will continue to explore other options, like the potential of mutual and captive insurance models, and the restructuring of large AOAO condominium master insurance requirements.

We know that homeowners are frustrated and worried by the rapid increases in insurance costs. While the task force continues to explore all possible avenues to bring relief to homeowners, we applaud the governor’s decision to take decisive action by signing the emergency proclamation.

Gordon Ito is Hawaii’s insurance commissioner, Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole chairs the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee and Rep. Scott K. Saiki is House speaker; they are co-chairs of the Executive and Legislative Condo and Property Insurance Task Force.