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NAR Letter to House Economic Development committe Regarding Infrastructure Mitigation Hearing

Issue Date: April 26, 2017


On April 26, 2017, NAR sent a letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management and cc’ing the entire Subcommittee. The letter thanks the Committee for holding the upcoming hearing, "Building a 21st Century Infrastructure for America: Mitigating Damage and Recovering Quickly from Disasters."

The letter also expresses NAR’s belief that any discussion of disaster mitigation must begin with a focus on reauthorizing and strengthening the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) considering the fact that most disaster declarations are flood related and floods cost more than any other natural disaster. NAR recommends that Congress:

  1. Reauthorize and strengthen the NFIP to address catastrophic loss years.
  2. Build on and expand NFIP’s approach of risk mapping and steering development away from high-risk areas. 
  3. Consider putting NFIP at the center of a coordinated government-wide effort to marshal, analyze and target mitigation resources where they produce the most benefit for the cost. 
  4. Shift investments to more accurate and granular flood mapping so communities, developers, and property owners can better understand, avoid and mitigate flood risk. 
  5. Make flood mitigation assistance available to property owners before disaster strikes, when families are able to focus on mitigation and the mitigation dollars will go further.
  6. Invest in upgrades to aging flood control infrastructure as part of a broader effort to avoid and mitigate risk for communities and property owners.