Protecting Coastlines by Limiting Flood Insurance
May 18, 2022
Viral videos of beachfront homes washing away illustrate the power of rising sea levels, caused in part by climate change. In Issues, Cornelia Dean maintains that the US Congress shares some of the blame for these losses, especially its adoption in 1998 of the National Flood Insurance Program, which, she argues, set off a disastrous and expensive building boom on the coasts. Among her ideas for undoing that mistake is prohibiting homeowners from receiving flood insurance payouts after their first claim. “Over time,” Dean writes, “that would at least reduce the program’s expenses and might discourage rebuilding in places obviously unsuited for it.”