The Issue
Flood Insurance is an important consideration for our community, not only for homeowners – it can impact renters, businesses and, by extension, the entire community.
The Solution
Homeowners in Red Hook who take out a mortgage from a lender that is federally regulated or insured are required to purchase flood insurance. As flood insurance premiums increase, renters may see rent increases as landlords seek to offset costs. NYCHA also faces increasing flood insurance premiums. This is a critical issue for new home-owners in the neighborhood to be aware of.
RRH Action
As of this writing, flood insurance is only offered through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the program is up for re-authorization through Congress this fall.
Advocacy groups from across the country are currently seeking changes to the NFIP program, striving toward policy affordability and preventing punitive measures currently in some of the legislation. The NFIP is in debt and needs greater participation and other reforms in order to become viable. Otherwise, Congress may find a way to shift to the private insurance market which could prove discriminatory and costly.
In order to become a viable federal program, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey, significant NFIP legislative reform is needed.
The New York City Office of Recovery and Resiliency (ORR) along with the Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN) are working diligently on NFIP reforms including affordability, mitigation credits for NYC building-types, accurate FEMA mapping, etc..
Links
For more information and to know your own risk go here: https://www.floodhelpny.org/ For the NYC Flood Hazard Mapper go here: http://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/flood-hazard-mapper.page
To learn more about NFIP legislation, the Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance (CSFI), a national advocacy group out of New Orleans, go here: http://csfi.info/