Biden administration proposes drastic flood insurance reform

The Biden administration’s proposed major overhaul to the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, would drastically alter how Americans protect homes and businesses against flooding.

The administration recently announced 17 legislative proposals that would represent the biggest reform to the NFIP since the program’s inception. One change would be a nationwide disclosure law that would ensure that prospective homeowners and renters have a property’s flood history before signing a contract. Today, 21 states have no such law.

Another proposal would prevent NFIP from issuing any new insurance policies for commercial buildings no matter where they’re located or when they were built because FEMA says it wants to promote growth in the private flood insurance market. Americans hoping to build new homes on eroding beaches and other flood-prone areas would also have to look elsewhere for insurance.

Homeowners would have to go to private insurance companies, which typically charge more expensive insurance premiums. People who hold mortgages on properties that flood multiple times and require insurance payouts of at least $10,000 each time, could lose access to government insurance on their properties after the fourth claim.

The proposals must pass Congress to become law, but there is support from both sides of the political aisle with a view that the status quo is becoming financially unsustainable.

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