Pew Charitable Trusts Issues Public Comment to HUD
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The comment, on Docket No. HUD-2023-0025-0008, was sent to Regulations Division in the
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Overall, Pew sees this proposal as a much-needed step to address the significant and growing risk of-flood damages and losses. This rule can greatly improve the resilience of affordable housing and other-HUD-assisted projects over time by assuring that new construction and substantial improvements are-carried out with careful attention to long-term risks. By requiring that project developers evaluate and-plan for flood risks over anticipated project lifetimes, HUD will help to rein in the rising costs of flooding-disasters and, more importantly, safeguard the lives and livelihoods of the individuals and families who-live in or utilize HUD-assisted homes and projects.
In particular,
* Pew strongly supports the proposed rule's preference for the use of a Climate-Informed Science-Approach (CISA) to determine the estimated extent and height of the FFRMS floodplain;
* We endorse the proposal for improved protections in areas that have been known as Coastal A-zones or areas within the Limit of Moderate Wave Action (LiMWA),/i and we urge the Department to seriously consider disallowing both construction and reconstruction within that-most dangerous portion of the floodplain--the floodway;
* Pew also supports new restrictions on the use of fill within floodplains for HUD-supported-projects, at the very least in any case in which a development on fill may redirect flood waters-onto properties with existing structures or otherwise cause expansion of the mapped floodplain-elsewhere;/ii
* We welcome HUD's proposal to address the problem of repeatedly flooded properties/iii and-urge the Department to pay close attention to repair and reconstruction of multi-family units-where residents have not only lost belongings and been displaced but have also required evacuation and rescue by emergency personnel./iv Particularly in communities where such structures comprise a significant portion of the affordable housing stock, we recommend that-HUD prioritize new protections to break the cycle of loss that residents may have endured;
* Pew supports the Department's call for hazard notification to occupants and prospective purchasers and renters of HUD-assisted housing/v , and we would encourage the Department to work with the
* We also appreciate the stated commitment "to use nature-based floodplain management approaches where practicable" and to streamline decision-making for activities that would mitigate flood risk, avoid wetland losses, or provide co-benefits that may otherwise assist in-reducing climate impacts./vi
* Finally, while we understand that the Department may need to determine an appropriate transition period for implementation, we note that the sooner that these important changes go-into effect, the larger the impact on the next generation of HUD-supported housing stock and-infrastructure projects.
We also offer the following more detailed explanation of why we see this proposal as important and-how the proposed rules might be implemented.
Long-term Assets Require Forward-Looking Evaluations and Long-term Protections.
As the background in this proposal explains, the overall objective of Executive Order 11988 was to-reduce the damages and recovery costs associated with major flooding./vii The 1977 Order sought to promote the location of homes, businesses, and important infrastructure outside of areas prone to-flooding to the extent feasible and to assure that when Federally-backed assets had to be located in-such areas, those assets would be protected from anticipated flood levels. For decades, the-implementation of this Order relied exclusively on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) produced by-
The update to that Order, embodied in Executive Order 13690, recognized that the exclusive reliance on-FEMA FIRMs had proven grossly inadequate, with federal dollars continuing to be invested into projects-that would later require repair or replacement due to flooding damage./viii The primary change to EO-11988 envisioned by the new Order, then, was to incorporate a reasonable consideration of future risk-into decision-making about long-term assets funded at least in part by Federal taxpayers./ix
FIRM Flood Zones Do Not Incorporate Needed Consideration of Future Risk.
Since the early days of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP),
Executive Order 13690 and this proposed rule respond to these criticisms, addressing important-challenges that numerous experts have noted: Flood risk is highly dynamic and flood risk mapping,-though greatly improved over the years, still involves a high degree of uncertainty./xii
SFHAs on
Current mapping techniques predict future floods under the assumption that future precipitation and-weather patterns will follow those of the past and that critical factors such as wetland loss, urbanization,-or shoreline and riverbed erosion will remain unchanged as well./xiii With a changing climate and shifting demographics, then, additional data and considerations - beyond those reflected by the SFHAs - must-be employed to protect people and property over the long term.
CISA Should be the Preferred Approach for Determining the FFRMS Floodplain.
As this notice points out, the preference for CISA is a departure from HUD's 2016 FFRMS proposal (81 FR-74967). Pew welcomes this change and believes it will provide for the most useful examination of-future risks and the most durable protections for HUD-assisted projects. While it is true that the-previously preferred Freeboard Value Approach (FVA) as well as the 0.2-percent-annual-chance-approach would have offered some measure of protection above what is currently dictated by the NFIP-minimum floodplain management standards, the application of those simplified safety factors would not-foster the more fulsome yet tailored consideration of risks called for in a CISA approach.
While we recognize that data to support the CISA option may be difficult to access in certain areas (as-might detailed Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) or 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood delineations), we also-know that the availability of technically credible data on future flood risks has increased substantially-since HUD's previous proposal and reliable sources of such data continue to grow./xiv
In addition to datasets, climate projections, and other tools that have been created by the
The level of activity in this arena - across federal agencies, states, localities, academia, and the private-sector/xvii - suggests that a collaborative approach for data-sharing and data stewardship will be-important to FFRMS implementation overall. While HUD may wish to develop its own level of understanding and expertise around future flood risk projections to serve the specific needs of its-programs and clients, we would urge the Department against a "go-it-alone" approach involving-creation and/or approval of new maps specific only to the HUD programs and projects.
Rather, we would hope to see continuing cooperative, interagency efforts/xviii to build an accessible and reliable repository of CISA products that can be used to inform siting and design decisions for the full-range of federally-supported assets. This is, of course, a large undertaking and will require significant-resources and a long-term commitment to producing credible and actionable mapping products. In our-view, a "community of practice on future flooding" - as outlined briefly in the recent CISA State of the-Science Report/xix - offers a sensible path forward for meeting this challenge.
The New Rule Should be Treated as a Resilience Performance Standard, Not Simply an Elevation-Standard.
As we read this proposal along with the underlying EO and the all-Agency Guidelines previously adopted-by the
For many HUD-backed projects where re-location is not an option, particularly those involving-construction or significant repair of single-family homes, building or first-floor elevation will likely be the-simple and practical approach to compliance, and the elevation heights would derive from that data and-a comparison to existing flood maps./xx
For other projects, including those deemed as "critical," elevation alone may not offer the most cost effective or durable protections. For critical actions, including community assets such as hospitals, fire-stations, and water treatment facilities, HUD should require a careful consideration of criticality and, as-appropriate, assure protection of ingress and egress and continued functioning, not simply protection of-the structure itself./xxi
Flood Protection is Not a Luxury.
One of the more frequent arguments against adoption and enforcement of additional flood protection is-that additional requirements will make new housing unaffordable. We see this as an argument that has-been proven wrong over and over by flood events. It assumes that the primary or sole focus should be-the selling price of a home and contends that because flood resilience improvements have the potential-to raise the construction price by some increment, they are inconsistent with objectives of greater-access to housing.
What this argument ignores, however, is the fact that the cost of home ownership is not simply the-initial price of a house. The cost of home ownership includes the purchase price, but it also includes the-cost of living in, maintaining, and insuring that home throughout the lifetime of ownership. In our view,-an "affordable" home that is subject to recurrent flooding or situated in a dangerous surge or landslide-area is not truly affordable, when its residents must evacuate to safety, lose their belongings, and make-costly repairs, often multiple times.
As documented by numerous researchers and disaster experts,/xxii such costs often fall heavily on lower-income groups and racial minorities who may suffer disproportionately from flooding disasters and face-a long or unending road to recovery. As
Enhanced Protections are Consistent with Principles of
With a fundamental mission to "create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable-homes for all," HUD administers a range of programs and approves or otherwise supports a wide-assortment of project types. The Department operates important programs aimed at increasing the-stock of affordable housing, offers mortgage insurance, and is increasingly relied upon for disaster-response and recovery, helping states and localities to rebuild and replace community assets impacted-by natural disasters. Unfortunately, as climate change and demographic changes continue to put more-people at risk from extreme weather events and flooding, the cost and the urgency of post-disaster aid-will continue to climb and HUD's capacity to serve communities in need will be strained. That alone-argues for new cautions regarding where and how to build and new standards to address future flood-risk.
Continuing flooding and mounting flood losses also work directly at cross-purposes to Federal programs-designed to assist some of the nation's most vulnerable households obtain affordable and safe housing,-including HUD programs targetting low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities./xxiv Again, the literature on disaster and recovery documents the often disparate and extreme impact that-disasters, including flooding, can pose for certain groups, /xxv and these challenges must be considered in finalizing a rule to make the Department's investments and projects flood ready.
We appreciate this opportunity to offer comments on this important rule, and we look forward to HUD-completing work on the final rule in the coming months.
I See discussion of Coastal A zone in
ii See Atoba,
iii
iv See press stories regarding flooding of HUD-supported housing, including Mervosh, Sarah, "Unsafe to Stay,-Unable to Go: Half a Million Face Flooding Risk in
v Testimony of
vi See, for example,
vii General Accounting Office, "Comptroller General's Report to
viii See, for example,
ix The principle of forward-looking planning for flood protection has been endorsed by a wide array of interest-groups and community leaders; see, for example,
x See, for example,
xi See, for example, Blessing,
xii See, for example, Bell, Heather M. and
xiii See, for example,
xiv See, for example,
xv
xvi See background on the tool and the "coast-smart data model" from the
xvii See, for example, Pasternack, Alex, "NYC: Few Cities Are Doing More to Map and Respond to Rising Waters,"-ESRI Blog, Climate Action,
xviii See two instructive examples of multi-agency data sharing: the
xix
xx We agree that information contained in preliminary or advisory maps should be considered, and we concur with-the notion that elevation levels lower than indicated on the existing FIRMs or lower than those required under-stricter state or local requirements should not be allowed. Construction below current BFEs would cause such-structures to be out of compliance with the NFIP regulations and local codes.
xxi
xxii See, for example, Kousky, Carolyn, Testimony before the
xxiii
xxiv Note earlier examples of multi-housing units impacted by flood disasters, with temporary or permanent postflood closures precipitating serious price shocks to local housing markets. See also Jingnan, Huo,
xxv See, for example, Manning, Anne, "What a small city in
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Original text here: https://downloads.regulations.gov/HUD-2023-0025-0108/attachment_1.pdf
TARGETED NEWS SERVICE (founded 2004) features non-partisan 'edited journalism' news briefs and information for news organizations, public policy groups and individuals; as well as 'gathered' public policy information, including news releases, reports, speeches. For more information contact
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