U.S. House members ask about flood insurance prices but still get no answers from FEMA [The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.]

Jul. 13—WASHINGTON — Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell was set to discuss her agency's future on Thursday, but spent much of her time fielding complaints from U.S. House members about FEMA's unfulfilled promise to address a recent dramatic increase in flood insurance costs for homeowners and businesses.

Criswell spoke Thursday before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology, a subcommittee that focuses on emergency preparedness and response, among other initiatives.

New Orleans U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, who leads the Democrats on the subcommittee, said top federal officials have repeatedly pledged to address the high costs, but there's been no action.

And Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, the New York Republican who chairs the subcommittee, brought up 51 House members' May demand that FEMA illuminate just how its new algorithm to set flood insurance costs works. The letter, led by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, asked for the information by May 29. The call has gone unanswered.

The premiums produced by that algorithm, which launched in 2021, are supposed to better reflect how vulnerable properties are to flooding and how much damages will cost. FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 algorithm has increased premiums for many of the 4.7 million Americans buying policies that pay for repairing water damage to individual homes and businesses. It has also led to lower premiums for many.

Whenever House staffers have asked FEMA staffers to provide documents detailing how the new system works, D'Esposito said, FEMA staffers have refused those requests, citing a possible threat of a lawsuit if that information is made public. But that excuse won't cut it, D'Esposito said Thursday.

Criswell said she'd ask around.

"I will certainly follow up with my staff when we return to the office. I need to understand their point. But it's not acceptable we haven't gotten back to you," Criswell said.

Criswell also noted that the Disaster Relief Fund, from which FEMA draws the money to help victims recover from disasters, will run out of funding in mid-to-late August. But she said she's not worried, as money has always been made available when disaster comes. No applicant is denied because of funding levels, she said.

FEMA is focusing now on recouping dollars that were obligated during the height of a previous disaster, but are no longer needed. So too is it recovering cash from projects that were expected to cost more than they ultimately did, Criswell said.

She also said FEMA has been in conversations at the White House about consolidating and coordinating federal post-disaster recovery efforts under the National Security Council, the office that advises the president on national security, military and foreign policy matters. FEMA is presently part of the Office of Homeland Security.

But Carter wanted to get back to how flood insurance costs are being calculated under the Risk Rating 2.0, which was launched in response to complaints that the National Flood Insurance Program didn't charge enough to cover its payments, and that taxpayers far from the coast often footed the bill.

Over its half-century in existence, the flood program has routinely stressed its reserves and relied on federal taxpayers to cover recovery costs. The program has $20.5 billion in debt, to which a million dollars of interest accrues daily.

Carter noted that in April, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified that FEMA was reviewing and would continue to review the rate-setting methodology. But Carter has heard nothing since, he said. And Carter's conversations with Criswell haven't gone far either.

"I am disappointed that since our last conversation there has not been any improvements or follow-up from you or your team," Carter said.

Criswell responded, "The most important thing I want to get across about Risk Rating 2.0 is that it now bases the flood insurance premiums on what each individual's unique flood risk is." She added that under the new system, about 20% of the policyholders have seen a decrease in their premiums.

"This demonstrates that they had been subsidizing higher value, higher risk homes across the country," she said of policyholders whose rates went down.

Criswell acknowledged that she and other FEMA officials need to better communicate what those risks are. They also ought to tell more people about the work FEMA has done to find and incorporate a system that would help individuals in low-valued, high-risk homes better afford the flood insurance policies.

Carter urged FEMA to get a move on. He said many Louisiana residents, particularly the elderly, are unable to purchase flood insurance policies due to the increased costs. "I would just hasten to say we need to really push up the time frame, this is real life. Don't just recognize, but provide relief," Carter said.

___

(c)2023 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.

Visit The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. at www.theadvocate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.