Guest commentary: Biggert-Waters an assault on the American Dream
John Young is the President of Jefferson Parish, a suburb of New Orleans with over 430,000 residents. He has started a national petition at stopthehikes.com to urge Congress to delay the Biggert-Waters Act.
I have always believed the American Dream started with owning a home. Sadly, for many Americans, this dream is under attack due to the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.
In 2012, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed Biggert-Waters into law as an overhaul of the National Flood Insurance Program. This put into place an aggressive timeline to increase flood insurance premium rates in an attempt to make the program solvent and ensure its long-term sustainability.
However, the legislation created a severe affordability and participation challenge for policyholders across the country.
In a classic Washington, D.C., attempt to make a failing program solvent, politicians forced the American people to foot the bill.
What’s even worse is this misguided attempt will not even accomplish the stated goal of financial sustainability of the National Flood Insurance Program. In fact, Biggert-Waters will have the opposite effect.
The exorbitant rate increases are affecting properties that have never flooded and that were built in accordance with all FEMA required elevations and applicable codes at the time of construction. Across the United States, these properties are now considered to be out of compliance, through no fault of the property owners or local government, due to new or proposed flood mapping by FEMA.
The full extent of rate increases are not yet known by FEMA as there are several actions, such as the transfer of ownership or adoption of updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps, that will trigger rate increases. Despite the lack of full knowledge of its economic ramifications, FEMA has already begun increasing rates on certain properties. Once again, Washington bureaucrats are setting aside common sense in favor of their own political agendas.
The ramifications of FEMA’s implementation of certain provisions within the Biggert-Waters legislation have devalued investments made in properties and homes — radically increasing the cost of flood insurance for more than a million policyholders nationwide.
Left unchecked and unmodified, Biggert-Waters will not only fail to accomplish the desired goal of financial sustainability of the National Flood Insurance Program, but it also will damage the real estate market, the banking industry and countless local and state economies.
Young couples beginning their lives, and senior citizens who have lived on family property for generations, will all be affected. Home ownership will become more difficult. Families’ disposable income will decrease. Making ends meet will be nearly impossible for countless Americans. In a word, the effect will be devastating. This unnecessary assault on the American Dream can be remedied, if Congress would act on behalf of the people it serves.
Congress must consider long-term solutions that balance fiscal responsibility with insurance premium affordability. Congress should also delay any premium increases until they work with FEMA to reevaluate Biggert-Waters.
There is a growing coalition of elected, business and civic leaders in Louisiana and across the country who support the goal of achieving actuarially sound flood insurance rates. Congress is now beginning to work on legislation that will delay Biggert-Waters’ implementation by four years.
This is an important start, but there is uncertainty on whether this bill will have the votes in Congress to pass. This is bad news for the thousands of homeowners and businesses adversely affected by this law.
The time for politics is over. It’s time for Congress to act now.
I hope you will join me in challenging our leaders in Washington, D.C., to do the right thing and delay the Biggert-Waters Act and pass bipartisan flood insurance reform that is balanced and affordable.
John Young is the president of Jefferson Parish. He has started a national petition at stopthehikes.com to urge Congress to delay the Biggert-Waters Act.