The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) needs to be reauthorized by December 16. The FEMA program provides flood insurance for almost 5 million properties nationwide with over $1.3 trillion dollars in total coverage.
Since 2017 the NFIP has not had a long-term 5-year re-authorization and has been subject to short-term funding extensions. On September 30, Congress and the President extended the program authorization to December 16.
Should there be a lapse, the NFIP would still be able to pay valid claims with available funds, but FEMA would be required to stop selling new policies and renewing existing ones. Since mortgages that are federally backed often require flood insurance coverage in certain FEMA zones, sales and closing would be disrupted. A National Association of Realtors analysis in 2017 estimated that as many as 40,000 sales and closings per month would not be able to proceed if NFIP authorization lapsed. That number may be higher today.
The National Association of Counties has urged Congress to move to a long-term re-authorization of the NFIP. Now the focus is on December 16. Another short-term extension could push even another annual re-authorization to a new Congress in 2023.
The Herald will be following this story.
