From hurricanes in the southeast to wildfires in the west, 2017 was the costliest disaster season on record. As Congress debates the terms for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), due for reauthorization next month, there should be no mistaking what’s at stake. The price tag and damage in future years will only continue to climb unless the U.S. moves beyond merely reacting and rebuilding. With the President’s new budget and infrastructure plan signaling his priorities – deep cuts to federal agencies and nondefense discretionary spending, and the privatization of infrastructure projects – it’s more important than ever that a new NFIP keeps us safe when the next disaster strikes.
A renewed and reformed NFIP, reauthorized in concert with other disaster preparedness legislation, will help cities build resilience proactively. It’s time for Congress to do its part to make our communities strong – even in an uncertain future in which natural disasters are more frequent and extreme.
{mosads}Reauthorizing the program alone won’t unlock its full potential for communities at risk; Congress should consider using this opportunity to enact badly needed reforms. Even before the major hurricanes of 2017, the program was deeply in debt. Rising insurance rates threaten to price many people out of coverage; outdated floodplain maps fail to adequately reflect changing flood risks; and cities don’t have the funds they need to take actions to mitigate their flood risks.
Some fundamental reforms can make NFIP fiscally sound, while restoring its original purpose: providing affordable and fiscally responsible flood insurance, and promoting proactive city-level actions to reduce flood losses.It must maintain insurance affordability while also providing the right incentives for fortifying and responsibly planning our communities. Congress can increase rates but give the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) explicit direction and authority to offer means-tested assistance to low-income homeowners. Furthermore, it can provide funding for individual and community-based flood mitigation programs. You can’t put every building on stilts, but you can incentivize property owners to find mitigation strategies that work for them. FEMA itself has recently found that for every dollar invested in mitigation, $6 was saved in avoiding losses.
Revisiting the Flood Insurance Rate Maps, which drive rate-setting and local land-use regulations, might be Congress’ most urgent task. While this work has already begun, a reauthorized NFIP must ensure that a floodplain mapping program is fully funded. Cities use these maps to make decisions with much longer-term consequences, including plans for infrastructure and other critical facilities.
To ensure the program’s long-term viability – and ability to help those most in need — a reauthorized NFIP must also include measures to enhance participation. Adding additional insureds to the NFIP would bring in much needed funding, and would help ensure that property owners have flood insurance to support their own recovery, rather than relying on tax-payer-funded disaster assistance. Congress should expand flood insurance purchase requirements for federally-backed mortgages to address increasing flood losses outside of mapped, special flood hazard areas. Extending these requirements to the 500-year floodplain, areas protected by levees, or properties receiving disaster recovery assistance can reduce the need for payments to uninsured property owners.
As we continue to recover and rebuild after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, it is critical that we also develop policies that ensure the next storm meets stiffer resistance. A reformed and reauthorized National Flood Insurance Program is fundamental to this effort, as are programs that support it. With the reauthorization looming, Congress should seize their chance to make this program the backbone of a federal policy that ensures our communities are resilient – no matter what the 21st-century has in store for them.
Michael Berkowitz is the President of 100 Resilient Cities.