Rep. Rose Presses FEMA Head on New Flood Insurance Proposal That Could Increase Costs for New Yorkers

WASHINGTON, June 12 -- Rep. Max Rose, D-New York, issued the following news release:

At a committee hearing today, Congressman Max Rose pressed the head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) on a new proposal to overhaul the way the federal government designates flood risk called Risk Rating 2.0. The Administration's new proposal is planned to go into effect in October 2020 and uses both public and private sector data to reassess flood risks and insurance premiums for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

"You can understand how this, especially when all you have said to this matter is 221 words on your website, is that this is starting to scare people," Rose asked Peter Gaynor, Acting Administrator of FEMA. "Would they be correct in their fear that they could start to pay upwards, or see upwards of 18 percent increases in their flood insurance bills annually, as a consequence of them fully understanding their risk? ... We could see, theoretically, people start to pay that 18 percent increase who were not formally?"

Gaynor replied, "Yes, sir. So again, what we're doing is trying to reevaluate and rebuild the program to better reflect risk. So in some cases, those premiums do not reflect that. So we're doing modeling right now so that some premiums could go up and some premiums could go down."

Rose responded, "We're not talking about an understanding of risk, we're talking about potential for a real affordability crisis. If you jack up someone's premium increases to 18 percent per year, roughly that's doubling in five years. Can you see how this could cause a massive affordability crisis for entire communities if this goes through?"

Following the exchange, Rose took up Gaynor's offer to work with his team to help shape this new program to ease concerns and said, "I represent an Island in New York City and a coastline in Brooklyn. You say understanding of risk, they see affordability crisis--and this will be a problem unless we address it."

Under the current system, FEMA assesses flood risk according to whether or not a property falls into an identified flood plain, with all properties in that flood plain being assessed the same risk of flooding. Risk Rating 2.0 aims to assess properties' individual and unique risks, which can potentially increase premiums for families living in high-risk areas. Currently, annual premium increases are capped at 18% under the NFIP, though premiums can actually rise higher according to actual risk over several years.

Rose has made protecting Staten Islanders and South Brooklynites from future storms a top priority and has worked to limit disruption and lower flood insurance costs. Last month, Rose highlighted the serious issues that followed Hurricane Sandy that are still being dealt with, and pressed officials from FEMA on whether or not there is a list of pre-approved contractors by region to show that FEMA is prepared for future disasters. Rose's first piece of legislation, which was signed into law by the President, provided an easement which will allow the construction of the East Shore Seawall on Staten Island to help protect from future storms and reduce high flood insurance premiums for his constituents.

Full video of Rose's questioning HERE (https://youtu.be/M9pAlhezJqA).