Who asks a homeless shelter for what
| Who | What they usually want to see |
|---|---|
| Grant funders & government contracts | General liability, professional and abuse coverage at stated limits, directors and officers, and a crime bond over any funds held |
| Landlords & commercial leases | General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation |
| Cities, counties & permits | General liability, auto and workers' compensation at the limits in the permit or contract |
Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.
How to check what you already have
- General liability declarations page. Three liability numbers matter: each occurrence, general aggregate and the products–completed operations aggregate. Then the forms list: blanket additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording satisfy every contract; scheduled forms satisfy one.
- Abuse and molestation. A separate limit, not a sublimit of general liability; whether it is occurrence or claims-made; and whether the organisation and the individual are both covered.
- Directors and officers declarations. Entity coverage, employment practices if packaged, the retention, and the exclusions for prior and pending matters.
- Professional liability declarations. Claims-made or occurrence, the retroactive date (it should not have moved), the limit per claim and aggregate, the deductible, and whether defence costs sit inside or outside the limit.
- Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
- Property section. Limits for building, business personal property and tenant improvements against replacement cost, the coinsurance percentage, the deductible, and whether flood and earthquake are excluded (they usually are).
- Hired and non-owned auto. Look for the symbols 8 and 9 or an endorsement by that name on the auto or general liability policy; without it, staff in their own cars are uninsured on company business.
- Crime declarations. Employee theft, forgery, funds-transfer fraud and social engineering each have their own limit; third-party coverage if you work in clients' premises.
- Business income. The limit or actual-loss-sustained wording, the waiting period, the period of restoration and whether extra expense is included.
- Participant accident. The medical limit per injury, the deductible, whether it pays primary or excess of the family's health plan, and the activities covered.
- Business owner's policy declarations. Liability limits on the first page, then the property section: building (if you own), business personal property, business income and the named extras such as spoilage, equipment breakdown or employee dishonesty. Confirm the property values are current.
- Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
- Cyber declarations. The headline limit matters less than the sublimits: social engineering, funds-transfer fraud, ransomware and business interruption, plus the regulatory coverage and the panel of breach vendors.
What usually goes wrong for homeless shelters
- Security incidents between residents, which become assault and supervision claims.
- Donated food served under a kitchen with no food-safety practice.
- Payer and licensing contracts that require limits higher than the policy carries, discovered at survey time.
- Volunteers assumed to be covered by workers' compensation; in most states they are not.
- Tenant improvements insured by nobody, because the lease says one thing and the policy another.
- Property values set when the doors opened and never raised.
What underwriters will ask a homeless shelter
- Beds and nightly census, staffing and security, meal service, and funding contracts
- Level of care, whether any medical procedures are performed, and staff credentials
- Background checks, incident reporting and any state survey findings
- Number of volunteers, background checks and what they do
- Budget, funding sources and whether any government contracts are held
- Square footage, whether you own or lease, the building's age and sprinklers
Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.
Renewal timing
Workers' compensation is audited on actual payroll and liability on sales, so a busy year ends with a bill unless the estimates were kept honest; pay-as-you-go billing through your payroll company removes most of that. Renewal autopilot starts the comparison sixty days out, prefilled from the wallet.