As a 2012 law aimed reforming the "increasingly unsustainable" National Flood Insurance Program goes into effect, some homeowners in coastal areas are seeing dramatic increases in their insurance rates. Lawmakers are pondering how to ease the pain.
"Sharp increases in federal flood insurance rates are distressing coastal homeowners from Hawaii to New England and are starting to hurt property values and housing sales in areas just beginning to recover from the recession, according to residents and legislators," report Lizette Alvarez and Campbell Robertson.
On October 1st, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act began to remove the subsidies that held down flood insurance rates for more than a million homeowners across the U.S.
“'The homeowners and business owners simply cannot withstand these gargantuan hikes,' said Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat and member of the bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing a bill to delay the increase. 'There is a lot of panic about this.'”
"Still, in recent years, costly flooding disasters, including Hurricane Sandy, have left the [National Flood Insurance Program] $25 billion in debt, a situation that will most likely worsen because of climate change and coastal overdevelopment," add Alvarez and Robertson. "And almost everyone involved agrees that the issue is not whether to change the program, but how to soften the impact on those hit hardest by the cost increases."
FULL STORY: Cost of Flood Insurance Rises, Along With Worries
Congress Still Exploring Fix for Flood Insurance Expenses
With the National Flood Insurance Program deeply in debt, homeowners are struggling to afford new insurance rates resulting from legislation passed in 2012. The House could still block the Senate bill that would delay more rate increases.
Hurricane Harvey and the Failure of the National Flood Insurance Program
Houston's most recent natural disaster is only the latest example of how a program created to help homeowners has been a greater benefit to the industries that profit from them.
New York Department of City Planning Releases Flood Retrofitting Manual
As federal law shifts to address resilience in post-Hurricane Sandy New York, the Department of City Planning has released a new manual to help residents and landowners understand options for retrofitting their buildings to prepare for floods.
Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself
The railroad's new CEO thinks he can get the project back on track. The stars will need to align this summer.
US Senate Reverses California EV Mandate
The state planned to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, a goal some carmakers deemed impossible to meet.
Trump Cuts Decimate Mapping Agency
The National Geodetic Survey maintains and updates critical spatial reference systems used extensively in both the public and private sectors.
Washington Passes First US ‘Shared Streets’ Law
Cities will be allowed to lower speed limits to 10 miles per hour and prioritize pedestrians on certain streets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions