Home Government Congressman Meeks Reacts to Flood Insurance Rate-Setting Report

Congressman Meeks Reacts to Flood Insurance Rate-Setting Report

Congressman Meeks Reacts to Flood Insurance Rate-Setting Report

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Gregory W. Meeks, a Senior Member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued a statement today in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on FEMA flood insurance rates that was released last week. In 2014, Congressman Meeks and several members of the committee requested that the GAO conduct a study of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) rate-setting methods under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to ensure that flood insurance rates are consistent with actual flood risk.

The GAO report found that FEMA has made significant improvements but not all of its original recommendations have been fully achieved.

“While much of the country might have forgotten about Superstorm Sandy, New Yorkers are still dealing with its devastating effects. In this long and painful path to recovery, I’ve been vigilant in making sure that FEMA, our local institutions, and private insurers are efficiently working for New Yorkers and potential flood victims elsewhere in the nation. Primarily, I’ve fought to make FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program more accessible and affordable, and the process more effective,” Congressman Meeks said.

Congressman Meeks continued, “The GAO report shows that FEMA’s NFIP has made progress but there is still room for improvement. I’ll continue to actively monitor FEMA and NFIP to make sure it fully actualizes the GAO’s recommendations.”


Congressman Meeks has been an active leader in reforming FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program. Through his leadership, Congress passed major reforms, including:

· Reversing and capping FEMA’s excessive premium increases for homeowners with flood insurance policies

· Ensuring homeowners are retroactively reimbursed for excessive rate increases on their flood insurance premiums

· Imploring FEMA to review its mapping process to ensure that homeowners’ flood insurance rates correctly reflected their flood insurance risk