Socioeconomic Effects of the National Flood Insurance Program

Socioeconomic Effects of the National Flood Insurance Program PDF

Author: James P. Howard, II

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-20

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 3319290630

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This Brief presents a benefit-cost analysis of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as well as an evaluation of its cumulative socioeconomic effects. Created by Congress in 1968, the NFIP provides flood insurance protection to property owners, in return for local government commitment to sound floodplain management. Since 1994, the NFIP has included a Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program to provide local communities with support for flood mitigation. This book offers quantitative evidence of the net social benefit of the NFIP for the years 1996-2010, including an independent assessment of the consumer benefit. Second, it provides distributionally weighted analysis to show the socioeconomic effects of payments and claims. Finally, this Brief includes an analysis of the change in government revenue attributable to the NFIP and FMA programs. The models used in each component of the analysis are usable by others for extending and revising the analysis. Providing a comprehensive analysis of this increasingly important federal policy, this Brief will be of use to students of environmental economics and public policy as well as those interested in risk management in the era of climate change.

Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums

Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2015-08-06

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0309371287

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The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is housed within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and offers insurance policies that are marketed and sold through private insurers, but with the risks borne by the U.S. federal government. NFIP's primary goals are to ensure affordable insurance premiums, secure widespread community participation in the program, and earn premium and fee income that covers claims paid and program expenses over time. In July 2012, the U.S. Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act (Biggert-Waters 2012), designed to move toward an insurance program with NFIP risk-based premiums that better reflected expected losses from floods at insured properties. This eliminated policies priced at what the NFIP called "pre-FIRM subsidized" and "grandfathered." As Biggert-Waters 2012 went into effect, constituents from multiple communities expressed concerns about the elimination of lower rate classes, arguing that it created a financial burden on policy holders. In response to these concerns Congress passed The Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (HFIAA 2014). The 2014 legislation changed the process by which pre-FIRM subsidized premiums for primary residences would be removed and reinstated grandfathering. As part of that legislation, FEMA must report back to Congress with a draft affordability framework. Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums: Report 1 is the first part of a two-part study to provide input as FEMA prepares their draft affordability framework. This report discusses the underlying definitions and methods for an affordability framework and the affordability concept and applications. Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums gives an overview of the demand for insurance and the history of the NFIP premium setting. The report then describes alternatives for determining when the premium increases resulting from Biggert-Waters 2012 would make flood insurance unaffordable.

Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums

Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2016-01-21

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 0309380804

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When Congress authorized the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1968, it intended for the program to encourage community initiatives in flood risk management, charge insurance premiums consistent with actuarial pricing principles, and encourage the purchase of flood insurance by owners of flood prone properties, in part, by offering affordable premiums. The NFIP has been reauthorized many times since 1968, most recently with the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW 2012). In this most recent reauthorization, Congress placed a particular emphasis on setting flood insurance premiums following actuarial pricing principles, which was motivated by a desire to ensure future revenues were adequate to pay claims and administrative expenses. BW 2012 was designed to move the NFIP towards risk-based premiums for all flood insurance policies. The result was to be increased premiums for some policyholders that had been paying less than NFIP risk-based premiums and to possibly increase premiums for all policyholders. Recognition of this possibility and concern for the affordability of flood insurance is reflected in sections of the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (HFIAA 2014). These sections called on FEMA to propose a draft affordability framework for the NFIP after completing an analysis of the efforts of possible programs for offering "means-tested assistance" to policyholders for whom higher rates may not be affordable. BW 2012 and HFIAA 2014 mandated that FEMA conduct a study, in cooperation with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which would compare the costs of a program of risk-based rates and means-tested assistance to the current system of subsidized flood insurance rates and federally funded disaster relief for people without coverage. Production of two reports was agreed upon to fulfill this mandate. This second report proposes alternative approaches for a national evaluation of affordability program policy options and includes lessons for the design of a national study from a proof-of-concept pilot study.

Economic Development

Economic Development PDF

Author: Daniel Garcia-Diaz

Publisher:

Published: 2014-07-09

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13: 9781457855702

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Floods are the most common and destructive natural disaster in the U.S. The Nat. Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which collected about $3.8 billion in premiums and insured about $1.3 trillion in property in 2013, is administered by the Fed. Emergency Mngt. Agency (FEMA) and is a key component of the federal government's efforts to limit the damage and financial impact of floods. NFIP makes federally backed flood insurance available to property owners in participating communities. Also, through NFIP, FEMA maps floodplain boundaries, and requires participating communities to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations that mitigate the effects of flooding. However, this program is unlikely to generate sufficient revenue to cover future catastrophic losses or repay billions of dollars borrowed from the Treasury Dept. to cover insurance claims from previous disasters. This report summarizes GAO's work from April 2003 through Feb. 2014 in the following areas: (1) finances; (2) premium rate setting; (3) community and property owner participation; (4) flood mapping; (5) flood mitigation; (6) administration and oversight; and (7) information management. It also discuss program changes required by the Biggert-Waters Act and the 2014 Act. Tables and figures. This is a print on demand report.

CBO's Review of a Study of the Economic Effects of Charging Actuarially Based Premium Rates for Federal Flood Insurance

CBO's Review of a Study of the Economic Effects of Charging Actuarially Based Premium Rates for Federal Flood Insurance PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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To satisfy requirements of section 578 of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) contracted with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to study the economic effects of eliminating the government subsidies in the National Flood Insurance Program. Under current law, flood insurance premiums are generally subsidized for "pre-FIRM structures"--Those built before the completion of a participating community's Flood Insurance Rate Map (or before 1975, whichever is later). At the request of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reviewed the resulting report, titled Study of the Economic Effects of Charging Actuarially Based Premium Rates for Pre-FIRM Structures. CBO's analysis included three components: Reviewing the report itself; Reviewing FEMA's own internally sponsored review commissioned from Professor Richard N. Boisvert of Cornell University of the report's "draft final" version; and sending three rounds of questions to FEMA and its contractor about assumptions and methods not adequately described or explained in the report.

Flood Insurance and Claims

Flood Insurance and Claims PDF

Author: Eugene Frimpong

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 35

ISBN-13:

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The Community Rating System (CRS) was introduced to encourage community-level flood mitigation and increase household-level National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) participation. It is not clear, however, if and to what extent community participation in the CRS increases household participation in the NFIP and decreases damage claims payments. We employ genetic matching methods and estimate Mundlak-style panel regression models that control for key geospatial, socioeconomic, and time effects to isolate the CRS treatment effect on these outcomes. Results show a positive and significant effect of CRS participation on NFIP participation. CRS effect on damage claims payments is negative but not significant.

Community-level Flood Mitigation Effects on Household-level Flood Insurance and Damage Claims

Community-level Flood Mitigation Effects on Household-level Flood Insurance and Damage Claims PDF

Author: Eugene Frimpong

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13:

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The Community Rating System (CRS) was introduced to encourage flood mitigation and increase National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) participation via premium discounts. It is not clear, however, how additional mitigation and premium discounts affect NFIP participation and damage claims payments. We employ matching methods and log-linear regression framework to estimate the impact of CRS participation (versus non-participation) on outcomes. We also analyze the effect of individual CRS mitigation activities on outcomes. We do so while controlling for key geospatial, socioeconomic, and time effects. Results show a positive and significant effect of CRS participation on NFIP participation, but no significant effect on damage claims payments. Outreach and flood data maintenance activities have positive effect on NFIP participation while floodplain mapping and flood protection have negative effect. Flood protection information and storm water management have negative effect on damage claims payments while floodplain management planning and acquisition and relocation have positive effect.

Underwater

Underwater PDF

Author: Rebecca Elliott

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2021-01-05

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0231548818

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Communities around the United States face the threat of being underwater. This is not only a matter of rising waters reaching the doorstep. It is also the threat of being financially underwater, owning assets worth less than the money borrowed to obtain them. Many areas around the country may become economically uninhabitable before they become physically unlivable. In Underwater, Rebecca Elliott explores how families, communities, and governments confront problems of loss as the climate changes. She offers the first in-depth account of the politics and social effects of the U.S. National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which provides flood insurance protection for virtually all homes and small businesses that require it. In doing so, the NFIP turns the risk of flooding into an immediate economic reality, shaping who lives on the waterfront, on what terms, and at what cost. Drawing on archival, interview, ethnographic, and other documentary data, Elliott follows controversies over the NFIP from its establishment in the 1960s to the present, from local backlash over flood maps to Congressional debates over insurance reform. Though flood insurance is often portrayed as a rational solution for managing risk, it has ignited recurring fights over what is fair and valuable, what needs protecting and what should be let go, who deserves assistance and on what terms, and whose expectations of future losses are used to govern the present. An incisive and comprehensive consideration of the fundamental dilemmas of moral economy underlying insurance, Underwater sheds new light on how Americans cope with loss as the water rises.

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