CSFI has been featured by The Advocate in a new article, “Thousands in Louisiana drop flood insurance despite more frequent, damaging storms. Why?,” written by reporter Sam Karlin.   CSFI emphasizes a “negative feedback loop” of declining NFIP participation, in which the risk pool becomes increasingly concentrated with fewer policies in force.  Furthermore, CSFI highlights the need for proper incentivization of mitigation through predictable, reliable premium discounts and encourages NFIP’s consideration of additional mitigation strategies, like green infrastructure, in premium calculation.  CSFI also stressed the need for debt forgiveness or forbearance, which could allow for the reinvestment of the NFIP’s $619M in annual debt service payments into mitigation, rather than the U.S. Treasury.

The Advocate provided an overview of decreasing participation and increasing repetitive loss properties in Louisiana – “Since 2022, 42,797 people in Louisiana have dropped flood insurance as premiums soar, representing 9% of policyholders.  It’s a staggering, unsustainable tally. Meanwhile, a decades-long effort to flood-proof the homes that are most at risk – and costliest to the flood insurance program – is failing to keep up with rising risk. Since Hurricane Katrina, an average of 1,400 properties per year have been added to a list of homes and businesses that flood repeatedly in Louisiana.  Over the same span, the state has only been able to reduce the flood risk at an average of 550 previously flooded properties per year, a Times-Picayune analysis of FEMA data shows.”

The Advocate also addressed how Risk Rating 2.0 has changed the benefit of elevating homes –  “Elevating homes has long been the go-to solution. But homeowners are increasingly wary of the bargain they must agree to in order to get assistance to elevate: a promise that they maintain flood insurance in perpetuity. The promise is attached to the home even if they later sell it; future owners would be required to pay flood insurance as well…The pitch was simple: You’ll have to keep flood insurance forever, but your rates will drop dramatically, and you won’t have to keep gutting your home after a storm…Some who agreed to the deal years ago are now paying more for flood insurance than they did before their home was raised. The program is also beset by lengthy delays and a lack of money, despite a recent boost in funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden. The tens of thousands who are dropping flood insurance are disqualifying themselves from receiving most federal aid for elevating.”

And, the Advocate explains how investments in mitigation are valuable, despite unclear valuation in Risk Rating 2.0 – “Some solutions have proven to work. The $14 billion levee system protecting New Orleans, rebuilt after the system’s collapse during Katrina, has so far held up. FEMA has found that elevating saves money in the long run. In one study, it found that for every dollar the federal government spent on elevating a group of homes in Jefferson Parish, it saved $2.23 in would-be flood losses during Hurricanes Isaac and Ida. And the Army Corps, which has historically embraced larger-scale flood controls, is embarking on a plan to elevate thousands of homes across Louisiana.”

You can access the full article here.