A long-delayed House bill that would lower the cost of federal flood insurance passed Senate muster with a flood of support on March 13.
Senators voted 77–22 in support of the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, which drains a 2012 law of provisions that would have substantially raised the cost of flood insurance for Brooklyn’s coastal homeowners.
“It’s a good day for the shorefront areas of New York, which can contain close to 1 million people,” said Sen. Charles Schumer. “Flood insurance will once again be a friend, rather than a foe.”
The bill, co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Michael Grimm (R–Bay Ridge), reverses portions of law passed in the summer of 2012, just three months before superstorm Sandy swamped the borough, that eliminated insurance subsidies for homes built before New York City entered the National Flood Insurance Program in 1983 and adopted federal flood maps.
After Sandy’s widespread flooding, the Federal Emergency Management Administration revised the flood maps to dramatically expand the areas where homeowners with a federally backed mortgages must purchase insurance under the newly hiked premiums.
The new bill reinstates insurance subsidies, and provides for their transfer to anyone who buys a pre-1983 home in a flood zone. It also caps annual increases on flood insurance premiums at 18 percent.
Schumer said the bill would ease the burden on homeowners, but added lawmakers could do more.
“Eighteen percent is still not as low an amount as we would like, and we may be able to revisit that down the road,” he said.
Grimm applauded the Senate for coming together to pass the bill, which his staff helped write.
“Both parties came together — it was truly a bipartisan bill,” Grimm said.
Many homeowners say they welcome the bill, but others want to see broader flood insurance reform.
“I’m not jumping on the bandwagon about subsidizing anything,” said Marine Park resident Sebastian Crociata. “I want to get to underlying numbers that are driving these rates.”
