McIntyre: "Flood Insurance Rate Hike Must Be Stopped"

Press Release

U.S. Congressman Mike McIntyre is leading the charge to help North Carolina homeowners and coastal communities by working to stop the upcoming significant increase in flood insurance rates.

McIntyre, and several of his North Carolina colleagues, have sent a letter to the congressional leadership requesting a provision be included in the final budget bill that would delay the dramatic flood insurance rate hikes by preventing part of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act from being implemented. Some homeowners in North Carolina could see rate hikes as high as 40 to 50 times current rates -- a 4,000 to 5,000% increase!

Congressman McIntyre stated, "Flood insurance must be accessible and affordable to North Carolinians, and the increase in rates must be stopped. Folks from all across Eastern North Carolina have expressed to me their very serious concerns about the impact that increased flood rates would have on homes, communities, and the local economy. We are going to do all we can to derail this increase!"

Last year, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act reauthorized the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in an effort to make it self-sustainable. This legislation sought to make NFIP actuarially sound but failed to make flood insurance accessible and affordable, leaving millions of policy holders in North Carolina and across the country in dire straits and facing exorbitant rate increases. It was never the intent of Congress to impose the types of punitive and unaffordable flood insurance premiums that FEMA may now impose on some homeowners.

Fortunately, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate have both shown strong support for identical language secured in each chamber's respective upcoming Homeland Security Appropriations bills that will delay the implementation of steep rate increases for some NFIP policyholders for one year while Congress works on an appropriate fix. However, because it is unlikely that the Homeland Security Appropriations bill will move through the Congress this year, Congressman McIntyre's letter asks that the provision be included in the final bill to fund the government for this year.

Joining McIntyre in the letter were Congressman Walter Jones, Howard Coble, and Mel Watt.

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