Special to Realty/Builder Connection
The National Flood Insurance Program has been effective at reducing costs to property owners and saving taxpayers money, but since 2005 floods and damages have pointed toward a need to reform the program, said the National Association of Realtors in testimony last month before the U. S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
“As the leading advocate for private property rights, NAR calls upon Congress to make the NFIP stronger and more efficient so that it can better protect the nation’s property owners,” said NAR First Vice President Maurice “Moe” Veissi.
Veissi, a Realtor for more than 40 years and broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc. and TM Realty, located respectively in Miami and Daytona Beach, said that Congress initially should reform how it renews the program by adopting minimum five-year NFIP reauthorizations.
“Extending the NFIP month-to-month through stopgap measures - some might say ‘punting’ from one deadline to another - is an inefficient way to operate a major federal program. And it creates financial and real estate market uncertainty for millions of taxpayers, financial market lenders, and insurers who can’t, or won’t, operate under these uncertainties,” said Veissi. “Such an extension provides much-needed certainty to a recovering real estate market and to millions of taxpayers who depend on this important program.”
NAR also called for reforms that would strengthen the program’s financial footing.
“Increasing community participation would lead to increased funds for the NFIP, help property owners recover from flood losses, and decrease future federal assistance when uninsured and under-insured properties flood and owners experience losses,” said Veissi.