A bipartisan effort to delay the rate increases by four years is trying to ensure that coverage will remain affordable.
A bipartisan lawmaker group is now in the midst of an effort to delay the changes to the federal flood insurance program for another four years, as they are currently threatening to stick thousands of homeowners with hikes to their premiums that they will not be able to afford.
This move has been made at a time in which the government is lining up to make a massive overhaul of the program.
The federal government has been working on putting the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through a considerable overhaul. This program is already generating a tremendous amount of expense and criticism and the reforms that it experienced over the last year have received a good amount of applause. The changes have been supported by both liberals and conservative tea party members, but at the same time it has left areas such as the New Jersey coast and Staten Island, N.Y. – not to mention Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi – in a state of panic.
The higher rates from the flood insurance reforms have threatened home prices and the affordability of homeownership.
This has caused many lawmakers to move to delay the changes to the flood insurance program in terms of the increases to the premiums. Among the loudest supporters of the delays include Southern state conservative Republicans. In their areas the new regulations have already sent home values through the floor due to the uncertainty regarding the cost of coverage and because the new program would not allow subsidies for coverage to be passed over to home buyers from the old owners.
New flood insurance zone maps have also threatened homeowners who are staying in place. Though they are currently paying only a few hundred dollars a year, some are seeing those premiums spiking to well over $20,000 on an annual basis.
The legislation from last year would cause 1.1 million homeowners to experience increases to their flood insurance premiums, where they have previously been subsidized, that had been seen as having below-risk coverage, and could even expand to homeowners whose properties had previously met building standards or that had once been seen as having a lower risk under the older versions of the flooding maps.
