How does federal disaster assistance work

2,248 Views | 29 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Aggie97
Dan Scott
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AG
"Only a small number of residences in two of Florida's hardest-hit inland counties are covered by flood insurance. The percentage of protected homes is higher in coastal areas that sustained the most damage, but still, is over 50% in just one of the affected counties, according to an analysis by Neptune Flood, a private-sector flood-insurance provider."

"The widespread lack of flood insurance will force many people to seek federal disaster assistance in the form of grants and loans. This will slow efforts to rebuild as people patch together funds. That is what happened after extensive flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey in 2017."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/flood-insurance-fell-in-florida-before-hurricane-ian-struck-11664591058

If you have a 500K home on the beach with no insurance, how much will you get? Seems unfair tax dollars are used to help rebuild what is probably somebody's 2nd home because they had no insurance. If the private marketplace doesn't provide insurance because of risk then why should government?

Tell me where I'm wrong, I don't know anything about this subject.
atmtws
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You're not wrong.
/W\ Saw 'Em Off! /W\
BTHO tu.
Clob94
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Some insurance companies won't sell flood insurance in certain places.
harge57
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Its typically in the form of a loan. They are not giving out money.

It also allows for a few other things like tax deductions for property losses.

They also incentivize raising homes out of the flood plain with grants/loans.
harge57
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Clob94 said:

Some insurance companies won't sell flood insurance in certain places.


I think that's true in a lot of places.

I think most flood policies are just pass through from FEMA through commercial companies.
fka ftc
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Dan Scott said:

"Only a small number of residences in two of Florida's hardest-hit inland counties are covered by flood insurance. The percentage of protected homes is higher in coastal areas that sustained the most damage, but still, is over 50% in just one of the affected counties, according to an analysis by Neptune Flood, a private-sector flood-insurance provider."

"The widespread lack of flood insurance will force many people to seek federal disaster assistance in the form of grants and loans. This will slow efforts to rebuild as people patch together funds. That is what happened after extensive flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey in 2017."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/flood-insurance-fell-in-florida-before-hurricane-ian-struck-11664591058

If you have a 500K home on the beach with no insurance, how much will you get? Seems unfair tax dollars are used to help rebuild what is probably somebody's 2nd home because they had no insurance. If the private marketplace doesn't provide insurance because of risk then why should government?

Tell me where I'm wrong, I don't know anything about this subject.

I happen to have experience in this area. I am going to speak only to FEMA housing related disaster assistance and the longer term HUD CDBG disaster assistance.

FEMA will come in right away to assist with debris removal and for housing repairs large and small, first targeting the hardest hit areas and further targeting those in the low to moderate income category. Most of these will not have adequate insurance (or no insurance) and in Texas instead of cutting checks they assign applicants to approved contractors who perform the work and get paid by the government. Following Harvey, the Texas GLO administered the PREPS and DALHR programs.

Most houses covered by a mortgage will have the appropriate insurance coverages. So you quickly whittle down to poor folks vs wealthier folks. The $500k house with no mortgage and no insurance may get some basic repairs, but they are not getting a house rebuilt.

Instead the folks getting major repairs and reconstructed houses will fall into a category of low / moderate income, usually be a house owned outright through inheritance or a paid of mortgage, and the demographic will skew to the elderly and also minority depending on the area. These funds are typically CDBG funds from HUD and the assistance is in the form of a 3 to 5 year promissory note that is forgiven by the government over that period as long as the homeowner meets certain requirements (lives there, doesn't sell it, maintains insurance). After that it is theirs free and clear.

I have operated in this area for 12+ years. The VAST majority (really just about all) of the recipients of these funds are truly those in need of housing assistance and are extremely thankful for the repairs or new home they receive.

Texas does these programs the best as far as I have seen with Florida running a close second.

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buzzardb267
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The last hurricane I worked was Ike, so things may have changed. If you have insurance, you likely get no assistance. If you have no insurance, and lost everything, you get an amount to provide basic needs. I did the housing inspection for 5 or 6 hurricanes after I retired. We determined if damage was hurricane related or just deferred maintenance, then measured the damages. We didn't have access to the software that determined how much was paid out.

If a couple had a nice, three bedroom, three bath house and it was basically destroyed, they got the equivalent of a one bedroom, one bath house paid to them. Their payment might also include an allowance for basic furnishings and clothing. The value or location of the dwelling that was destroyed was not a factor. I don't know if means were a factor, but our interview didn't include any questions about income, saving, etc. We asked who lived there, their name, DOB and SSN, insurance info, including policy number, and a few other basic facts.

The famous FEMA trailers were provided to those whose dwelling was determined to be uninhabitable. Sometimes, local building officials would determine a home was habitable, but FEMA provided a trailer anyway based on the inspection we provided. We never knew why.


EDITED....see the response above for more detailed info....
Ol_Ag_02
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The government should never, ever, bail anyone out for hurricane, tornado, flood damage. Buy insurance or get bent.

Sick of doing the right thing while the **** ups that knowingly take chances get bailed out.
chris1515
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It's kind of like student loan forgiveness…

Taxpayers who chose not to put themselves in a bad position will be forced to bail out others who made poor decisions.
SKY1
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Have you noticed in the aerial footage of some neighborhoods that there is a home or two that is on fire and burning to the ground? And you think to yourself how is that possible? Gas leak, electrical issue, yes it's plausible. Fire is covered by insurance. Flood is not.
Ol_Ag_02
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SKY1 said:

Have you noticed in the aerial footage of some neighborhoods that there is a home or two that is on fire and burning to the ground? And you think to yourself how is that possible? Gas leak, electrical issue, yes it's plausible. Fire is covered by insurance. Flood is not.


If only someone offered flood insurance. Oh well. Shame no one does.
WestGalvestonAggie
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Dan Scott said:

"Only a small number of residences in two of Florida's hardest-hit inland counties are covered by flood insurance. The percentage of protected homes is higher in coastal areas that sustained the most damage, but still, is over 50% in just one of the affected counties, according to an analysis by Neptune Flood, a private-sector flood-insurance provider."

"The widespread lack of flood insurance will force many people to seek federal disaster assistance in the form of grants and loans. This will slow efforts to rebuild as people patch together funds. That is what happened after extensive flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey in 2017."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/flood-insurance-fell-in-florida-before-hurricane-ian-struck-11664591058

If you have a 500K home on the beach with no insurance, how much will you get? Seems unfair tax dollars are used to help rebuild what is probably somebody's 2nd home because they had no insurance. If the private marketplace doesn't provide insurance because of risk then why should government?

Tell me where I'm wrong, I don't know anything about this subject.

"Seems unfair tax dollars are used to help rebuild what is probably somebody's 2nd home because they had no insurance."

This is where you are wrong. They do not give assistance for a second home at all. Disaster relief is designed to help needy people make federally declared disaster damaged homes safe and livable. A lot of the time it's the elderly. Now, there is a ton of fraud, but rich people are not getting federal help repairing an uninsured second home unless they are lying to the government about it.
buzzardb267
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I could write a book on the lying and cheating people tried. Most of the ones I encountered were wasting their time because FEMA wasn't going to pay them for their stereo that got wet, even though nothing else in the room was damaged. Or, the washer and dryer that no longer worked due to a power surge....that worked when I plugged it in. In Baton Rouge, my brother caught them moving a broken dryer from house to house. He marked it on the back with a sharpie when he kept seeing what appeared to be the same dryer. Everything we submitted was from a tablet and was mostly from drop down menus. They had no idea what we were entering. Often we would just nod our head and tap on our tablet like we were entering the high dollar vacuum cleaner that they claimed quit working, although the carpet had just been vacuumed. And, after Katrina, the first question was always "when am I going to get my FEMA check".
Fightin_Aggie
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Clob94 said:

Some insurance companies won't sell flood insurance in certain places.
Flood insurance is not and can not be sold by a private company. It can only be sold y the federal govt and they sell it to everyone

It used to be sold by private coma-Annie's then the feds regulated that out of existence. It was their trial run for govt run health care
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Fightin_Aggie
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Dan Scott said:



If you have a 500K home on the beach with no insurance, how much will you get? Seems unfair tax dollars are used to help rebuild what is probably somebody's 2nd home because they had no insurance. If the private marketplace doesn't provide insurance because of risk then why should government?

Tell me where I'm wrong, I don't know anything about this subject.

Not necessarily risk, the private market has been regulated out of flood insurance, the govt will only allow you to sell flood insurance if you are willing to insure everyone regardless of risk. Since no insurance company is willing to do that flood insurance became a federal program.
The world needs mean tweets

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ProgN
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Dan Scott said:

"Only a small number of residences in two of Florida's hardest-hit inland counties are covered by flood insurance. The percentage of protected homes is higher in coastal areas that sustained the most damage, but still, is over 50% in just one of the affected counties, according to an analysis by Neptune Flood, a private-sector flood-insurance provider."

"The widespread lack of flood insurance will force many people to seek federal disaster assistance in the form of grants and loans. This will slow efforts to rebuild as people patch together funds. That is what happened after extensive flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey in 2017."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/flood-insurance-fell-in-florida-before-hurricane-ian-struck-11664591058

If you have a 500K home on the beach with no insurance, how much will you get? Seems unfair tax dollars are used to help rebuild what is probably somebody's 2nd home because they had no insurance. If the private marketplace doesn't provide insurance because of risk then why should government?

Tell me where I'm wrong, I don't know anything about this subject.

If you're a cracker then you're ****ed regardless if you're poor or not because federal funds go to BIPOC and mentally ill gender confused people to achieve equity. Hope that helps.
itsyourboypookie
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The federal government is the only provider of flood insurance. And it's very expensive, and almost always useless.

But we keep it on our properties in the flood zone
AlaskanAg99
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Fed through FEMA sells flood insurance. You may purchase it through your home insurance company but they're just the middleman. These days if you have a mortgage and are in the 100 year floodplain the carrier will demand you also carry flood so they bank can cover their asset in the event of a storm.

Flood is broken down into structure and possessions. How much water in your home is critical for payout, more than 18" and damage starts increasing dramatically. Can't collect a claim unless an independent agency verifies, via a FEMA inspector or via a County inspector. A home can have $X damage before it is "substantially damaged" in which case it must be rebuilt to current code. That's when homes have to be lifted up and out of the 100yr floodplain. County has the authority to deem it uninhabitable "red tag" and have the power company cut power if needed until repairs are done.

After Harvey the County rewrote regs for the 100 and 500yr floodplains to make it more difficult to build homes that have the potential to flood. So after Harvey, thousands of people outside the 100yr didn't have insurance, so FEMA offered low interest loans so people could rebuild.

Another program through FEMA is redrawing the flood plains. https://www.hcfcd.org/Activity/Additional-Programs/MAAPnext-Development-Program

Which needed to happen to reflect better data. What this will do is expand the 100yr and suddenly people with mortgages will be required to buy flood insurance so that will be a surprise new bill as flood insurance is becoming more expensive.

Lastly, if a home has been flooded more than once it'll be on FEMAs repetitive loss list. Hit that list and now you're eligible to be bought out, home will be demolished and returned to green space.
doubledog
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harge57 said:

Clob94 said:

Some insurance companies won't sell flood insurance in certain places.


I think that's true in a lot of places.

I think most flood policies are just pass through from FEMA through commercial companies.
Why is flood insurance not mandatory for those at risk (almost all of lower Florida) and have mortgages?
Mortgage companies insist on homeowner's insurance why not have both for high flood risk areas?
Just want to know.
TAMU1990
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According to Kamala, it goes to minorities
Ag with kids
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Clob94 said:

Some insurance companies won't sell flood insurance in certain places.
You get flood insurance through FEMA.

All 4 of my properties in Corpus, especially the 3 on the Island, are this way...

And you also need a separate Windstorm policy in addition to the homeowner's policy. I had to have all 3 of them to get my mortgage.

The others we bought cash so I didn't HAVE to have those other policies, but I'm not a ****ing idiot.
YouBet
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Our family home on the coast does not have flood insurance. Took a direct hit from Harvey. Had some damage but it was either paid out of pocket or possibly regular home insurance...I'm not sure. Thankfully, it's a fortress.

At this point, we have home insurance and wind/hail like Ag with Kids said. Never looked into fema plans for flooding. May look into that.
EMY92
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Clob94 said:

Some insurance companies won't sell flood insurance in certain places.
All flood insurance is from the government. Private companies sell it, but the rates are set by the feds based on location and the flood maps.

There is no private flood insurance. There is wind and water damage insurance, but that doesn't cover flooding, that is for when your roof is ripped off and the rainwater enters.
Ag with kids
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YouBet said:

Our family home on the coast does not have flood insurance. Took a direct hit from Harvey. Had some damage but it was either paid out of pocket or possibly regular home insurance...I'm not sure. Thankfully, it's a fortress.

At this point, we have home insurance and wind/hail like Ag with Kids said. Never looked into fema plans for flooding. May look into that.
Just call your insurance agent. They can get it set up for you. Costs about the same as Windstorm.

Yes, it's expensive, but I've lived here 4 years and we've already had 1 hurricane hit Corpus (Hanna). It wasn't bad, other than Bob Hall Pier, but I'm not taking the chance with that much money invested...
Fightin_Aggie
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Ag with kids said:

YouBet said:

Our family home on the coast does not have flood insurance. Took a direct hit from Harvey. Had some damage but it was either paid out of pocket or possibly regular home insurance...I'm not sure. Thankfully, it's a fortress.

At this point, we have home insurance and wind/hail like Ag with Kids said. Never looked into fema plans for flooding. May look into that.
Just call your insurance agent. They can get it set up for you. Costs about the same as Windstorm.

Yes, it's expensive, but I've lived here 4 years and we've already had 1 hurricane hit Corpus (Hanna). It wasn't bad, other than Bob Hall Pier, but I'm not taking the chance with that much money invested...
The cost depends on where you are in the flood plain map, which is sometimes very inaccurate unless the city has paid for a study to be done.

If you are in zone AE or worse the flood insurance will be the same as your homeowners insurance or more.

If not it is maybe a couple hundred bucks a year. Really the feds do a terrible job assessing risk. Until I live in Round Rock and until the city redid the flood plain maps I was paying more than my friends in lived next to the bay on the coast. Now its like $400/year
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Ag with kids
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Fightin_Aggie said:

Ag with kids said:

YouBet said:

Our family home on the coast does not have flood insurance. Took a direct hit from Harvey. Had some damage but it was either paid out of pocket or possibly regular home insurance...I'm not sure. Thankfully, it's a fortress.

At this point, we have home insurance and wind/hail like Ag with Kids said. Never looked into fema plans for flooding. May look into that.
Just call your insurance agent. They can get it set up for you. Costs about the same as Windstorm.

Yes, it's expensive, but I've lived here 4 years and we've already had 1 hurricane hit Corpus (Hanna). It wasn't bad, other than Bob Hall Pier, but I'm not taking the chance with that much money invested...
The cost depends on where you are in the flood plain map, which is sometimes very inaccurate unless the city has paid for a study to be done.

If you are in zone AE or worse the flood insurance will be the same as your homeowners insurance or more.

If not it is maybe a couple hundred bucks a year. Really the feds do a terrible job assessing risk. Until I live in Round Rock and until the city redid the flood plain maps I was paying more than my friends in lived next to the bay on the coast. Now its like $400/year
Well...I DO live on the main barrier island for Texas...so I'm not going to ***** about "risk"...
agracer
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itsyourboypookie said:

The federal government is the only provider of flood insurance. And it's very expensive, and almost always useless.

But we keep it on our properties in the flood zone
???

My cousin, who had federal flood insurance, lost everything from Katrina and got a check for everything just a few months after, and before he could even get back into NO.
ProgN
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Ag with kids said:




All 4 of my properties in Corpus, especially the 3 on the Island, are this way...

The others we bought cash so I didn't HAVE to have those other policies, but I'm not a ****ing idiot.
Nice humble brag. Your posts after this sounded like Bernie in my head as I read them. You're our gulf cost Bernie. Just post "millionaires and billionaires followed by Medicare for all" please.

I'm just f'ing with you btw, it made me laugh, and I'm not a leftist so I celebrate others enjoying the fruits of their hard work.
AgBandsman
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Dan Scott said:

"Only a small number of residences in two of Florida's hardest-hit inland counties are covered by flood insurance. The percentage of protected homes is higher in coastal areas that sustained the most damage, but still, is over 50% in just one of the affected counties, according to an analysis by Neptune Flood, a private-sector flood-insurance provider."

"The widespread lack of flood insurance will force many people to seek federal disaster assistance in the form of grants and loans. This will slow efforts to rebuild as people patch together funds. That is what happened after extensive flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey in 2017."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/flood-insurance-fell-in-florida-before-hurricane-ian-struck-11664591058

If you have a 500K home on the beach with no insurance, how much will you get? Seems unfair tax dollars are used to help rebuild what is probably somebody's 2nd home because they had no insurance. If the private marketplace doesn't provide insurance because of risk then why should government?

Tell me where I'm wrong, I don't know anything about this subject.



I'd rather the money go to their second home than Ukraine.
Aggie97
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Another thing about flood insurance is that it only covers up to 250k. So if you have a 500k house you can go through a private insurers for excess flood.
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