By Joe Anuta
The federal government is set to raise some flood insurance premiums this fall without completing a promised study to help homeowners deal with the extra cost, a candidate for borough president said Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is poised to end certain longstanding flood insurance subsidies in October for businesses and homes that have flooded repeatedly along the water in Queens and across the country, which means in many cases rates will skyrocket.
But those rate increases should not be implemented until a required study is published that would help homeowners lessen the costs, according to former state Assemblywoman Melinda Katz, who is running for borough president.
“I don’t think a freeze is unreasonable. It’s important,” she said. “You have to give us time to figure out how people are going to afford the increase.”
Katz is referring to the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act, which directed FEMA to bring certain insurance rates up to a level that accurately reflect the risk of living in flood-prone areas. About 20 percent of federal plans were subsidized.
Part of the law called for a study to explore ways to keep property owners enrolled in the National Flood Insurance Program despite the rising costs, since some may opt out rather than fork over substantially larger payments each month.
For example, the study will explore the economic viability of providing vouchers for lower-income families that cannot afford coverage.
Biggert-Waters called for the study, undertaken by the National Academy of Sciences, to be complete this spring, but FEMA recently told TimesLedger Newspapers it will likely not be done for several years, which did not sit well with Katz.
“It’s outrageous that federal bureaucrats see nothing wrong with jacking up flood insurance rates for working families in Queens — several years before FEMA even does its homework,” Katz said. “If it’s going to take years for the federal government to finish this study, it should be years before flood insurance rates go up even 1 cent. Period.”
The insurance program is currently about $18 billion in debt, and the increases are designed to make sure it can last into the future.
For years, the federal government had been offering discounted insurance rates to some, meaning homeowners in low-lying areas like Broad Channel or the Rockaways, for example, may not have been paying a premium that accurately reflected the risk of living there.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
