Additional Living Expenses (ALE)
Coverage reimbursing a homeowner for the extra cost of temporary housing, food, and related expenses above their normal cost of living while their home is uninhabitable after a covered loss. It's owner-occupant coverage specifically, not the same as rental income coverage for a landlord.
Why it matters
ALE carries both a dollar limit and a time limit, commonly 12 to 24 months, and a family displaced by a slow [[career-restoration-project-manager|restoration project]] can run past that time limit before repairs are actually finished.
On a real project
A family displaced for four months after a kitchen fire has their hotel bill and restaurant costs, above what they'd normally spend on groceries, reimbursed through ALE, up to the policy's stated limit.
Who this matters most to
A Insurance Adjuster tracks ALE spending against both the policy's dollar limit and its time limit throughout a claim, since either one running out ends the reimbursement regardless of whether repairs are finished.
Where this goes wrong
A restoration project stalls on material delays and a family's temporary housing runs past their policy's ALE time limit, commonly capped at 12 or 24 months regardless of the dollar amount still remaining, leaving the family to cover the gap themselves because the repair timeline wasn't managed against that ticking clock.