Flood insuranceCongress extends flood insurance measure
More than 21,000 communities in the United States require flood insurance for mortgages; more than 5.6 million property owners rely on the program against flood-related disasters; Congress passes a 5-year reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) welcomed Congressional passing of a 5-year reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 was passed two weeks ago as part of a transportation funding bill and signed into law by the president on 6 July. The legislation extends NFIP authority through September 30, 2017.
“As the nation’s leading advocate for homeownership and housing issues, we are pleased that Congress has approved a long-term reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program, which ensures access to affordable flood insurance for millions of home and business owners across the country,” said NAR president Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc., in Miami.
NAR has long supported the NFIP, which protects property owners in more than 21,000 communities where flood insurance is required for mortgages. More than 5.6 million property owners rely on the program against flood-related disasters, which claimed more lives and property than any other natural disaster in the United States over the past century. In fact, floods are the most common natural disaster in the country; since 1990 floods have been declared in every state, along rivers and anywhere rain falls or snow melts.
The NAR says that without the NFIP, families and business owners across the United States would go without flood protection, since the private market cannot guarantee the availability or affordability of flood insurance. The NFIP also saves taxpayers money, since it serves as an alternative to expensive federally funded disaster relief for flood victims.
The 5-year extension follows a few years during which Congress has been approving short-term extensions of the NFIP authority to issue flood insurance policies. Since September 2008 there have been more than seventeen extensions, and authority has been allowed to expire two times, which, the NAR says, resulted in delaying or cancelling 1,300 real estate transactions each day of the lapse. During the June 2010 lapse, NAR survey data estimates that more than 40,000 home sales were delayed or cancelled, which undermined home buyer and investor confidence.
