Still, people buying new homes may now face bills 10 times higher than before. It would be higher, but Congress has capped annual increases for each homeowner at 18%. MAURSTAD: If you're living in an area where you have hurricane risk and riverine risk and now rainfall risk, yes, your risk is greater than what it's been indicated in the past under the old methodologyĪLLEN: In Monroe County, the Florida Keys, FEMA says more than 90% of homeowners will see their annual flood insurance premiums go up, sometimes by thousands of dollars a year. Lightbody says the fact is people in the Florida Keys live in a high-risk area, and their flood premiums should reflect that. Congress has pushed to modernize it and bring it back to solvency. LAURA LIGHTBODY: It was not designed for the flooding that we know today, the sea-level rise that so many Floridians experience.ĪLLEN: With the growing number of extreme weather disasters, the federal flood insurance program is also some $20 billion in debt. She says the old risk rating system didn't take into account the mounting effects of climate change, which is making extreme rain and flood events more intense and more frequent. It's multiple flooding frequencies, how close one is to a water source - a river or the ocean or a lake - and, of course, elevation still, in addition to the cost to rebuild.ĪLLEN: This is a big improvement, says Laura Lightbody, who works on community flood issues with Pew Charitable Trusts. In the past, he says, a homeowner's flood insurance premium was mostly based on where they were in a flood zone and what their home's elevation was.ĭAVID MAURSTAD: Now it's multiple flooding sources. So why hers would be so much higher than mine I don't know, and I don't understand.ĪLLEN: David Maurstad, the person in charge of FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, says the new system takes many more factors into account. HORAN: Mine - if somebody were to purchase it today, the premium would be $1,700. Horan says her house is nearby and similar in size and construction but with a flood insurance estimate much lower than Tripp's quote. REBECCA HORAN: Honestly, I can't see any rhyme or reason to where they're coming up with the premiums.ĪLLEN: FEMA's new risk rating system depends on software that delivers sometimes surprising results. It's also left homeowners, realtors and insurance agents like Rebecca Horan confused. Throughout the Keys, FEMA's new flood rates have dramatically increased the cost of owning a home. And there were, I think, seven other families that were in the same position.ĪLLEN: They scrambled to close the sale early and avoid that. TRIPP: Then it was going to go to 5,000 if we didn't close before October 1. They found out FEMA's new flood rating system would raise their premiums by nearly 15 times, making her home suddenly unaffordable. But before they finalized the sale, Tripp says they had an unwelcome surprise. It's a modest house and already elevated 10 feet above ground level to prevent flood damage. Her husband installs fire sprinkler systems. Tripp is a graphic artist and web designer. The house still needs work, including batteries for the beeping smoke detectors. The high cost of housing has long been a major problem here. We purchased it through Habitat.ĪLLEN: That's Habitat for Humanity. On Big Pine Key, after years of looking for a house she could afford, Amy Tripp and her husband were finally able to buy a home.ĪMY TRIPP: It was damaged in Irma, so it was totally gutted and has a new roof. Almost all homeowners on the island chain are required to carry flood insurance if they have a mortgage. GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: There may be no place affected more by the new risk rating system than the Florida Keys. As NPR's Greg Allen reports, it could also make some housing unaffordable for some middle-income Americans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says its new rates better reflect flood risk in a warming climate. The cost of flood insurance is rising for millions of homeowners.
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