States and localities will never be able to fill the void left by the federal government. But as governors, mayors and county leaders make difficult decisions about how to allocate their limited resources, there is an underutilized strategy that can significantly reduce the cost of future disasters: relocating residents from floodplains through voluntary buyouts.
This would be a significant departure from the traditional approach to disaster response.Federally subsidized insurance and many federal disaster relief programs have encouraged homeowners to rebuild, even where future flooding is almost certain. A home in Mississippi, for example, flooded 34 times in 32 years, resulting in insurance claims totaling nearly 10 times the home’s value. This is not sustainable — there are places we simply shouldn’t be living.
There’s no silver bullet to address this crisis, but “managed retreat,” via voluntary buyout programs at the state and local level, is urgently needed to prevent the most devastating consequences of the disasters that inevitably lie ahead. Historically, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have funded post-disaster buyouts, allowing cities and states to purchase and demolish damaged homes and return the land to nature. These buyouts have been extremely effective at reducing flood risk, but have been slow to deploy and limited in scale, leaving flood victims in limbo and financially vulnerable.
States and local governments seeking to design their own programs have an opportunity to improve on the federal model to more quickly relocate vulnerable people and ensure they have a strong financial foundation to rebuild their lives. A few jurisdictions are already supplementing federal funding with own-source revenues to proactively purchase homes before a flood occurs. New Jersey’s Blue Acres program, which expanded after Superstorm Sandy, is largely funded by a corporate business tax. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County in North Carolina has bought out hundreds of homes using revenue from a stormwater fee and its rainy-day fund. And Austin, Texas, relies on bonds and an impervious surface drainage charge. These programs can act faster than FEMA and HUD, which often take over five years to process a buyout.
But convincing thousands of Americans to leave their homes is a monumental task, and understandably is frequently met with resistance. Success requires building trust. Permanent buyout programs with full-time case managers are uniquely positioned to form relationships with homeowners, raise awareness about flood risk and help communities reimagine the use of newly acquired public land. For some, it can take multiple floods before they’re ready to move. By establishing a permanent program, the runway to build trust is longer. In the meantime, case managers can help homeowners organize paperwork, resolve liens and clear titles so that when they’re ready the process moves quickly.
State and local funding also allows programs to better meet residents’ needs. As mortgage rates and housing prices skyrocket, federal buyout offers are often insufficient. New Jersey’s program, in contrast, helps homeowners afford a 15 percent down payment on a comparable home outside the floodplain and allows them to rent rather than buy. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County even allows homeowners to temporarily rent their house back from the government, giving them extra time to find new housing. These kinds of flexible wraparound services are only possible when local governments design programs tailored to their community’s needs, unencumbered by federal red tape.
There is no time to wait. States and localities that start to invest in managed retreat now will incur far less damage in the future, saving lives and avoiding financial ruin. And governors, mayors and county leaders who demonstrate leadership before disaster strikes will be able to stand tall knowing they did what was necessary to protect their communities.
This has been updated to reflect President Donald Trump’s announcement that his administration will begin “phasing out” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this year’s hurricane season.
Ella Hanson is a recent Master in Public Policy graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School. She completed her capstone project with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice to inform the design of a permanent voluntary buyout program and identify strategies to increase homeowner participation.
Governing’s opinion columns reflect the views of their authors and not necessarily those of Governing’s editors or management.
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