Editorial: Strong opening bid for changes to Louisiana flood insurance premiums

As many homeowners and owners of rental property know by now, there really is an insurance crisis in Louisiana.

But it works out in different ways, whether in the private or public insurance spheres, and it hits many households in apartments indirectly with rising rates for rent. As if Louisiana isn’t challenged enough for rental availability and affordability.

At the state level, efforts have been made to lure more private-sector property insurers to Louisiana. A quiet hurricane season this year would be a huge help, although there’s not much that government can do to make that happen.

But another big part of the threat to housing affordability in south Louisiana is the new rating system for the National Flood Insurance Program.

The federal program has undergone radical changes that resulted in rising costs for homeowners throughout coastal areas of the nation.

Louisiana’s delegation in Congress — backed by parish presidents, GNO Inc., various chambers of commerce and many other interested parties — has been on the case for a long time, but this year’s debate over “reauthorization” of the program itself is an opportunity to make big changes to help keep flood insurance within economic reason.

Senators and representatives from Louisiana and New Jersey have partnered in offering a new bill to extend NFIP’s charter for five years but also make significant changes in how it is run — nobody’s quite figured out how the new “Risk Rating 2.0” formula works — and to encourage investments in flood prevention. Joining them as co-authors are members from Florida, New York and Mississippi, who also know the problems well. 

The flood prevention part is an obvious and valuable contribution to lowering damages, thus avoiding financial exposure to property owners and indirectly the U.S. Treasury.

Around here, we need NFIP. Every coastal state also needs the coverage that the private sector has not provided for half a century.

“The high cost of flood insurance hurts everyone, but especially working families along our coast,” U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, told a meeting of interested parties in Metairie in May. “This is a human problem, not just an actuarial one. We need to pass legislation that keeps rates low and (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) accountable.”

The new reauthorization bill by Cassidy and others would make significant changes in the program, which operates under FEMA’s umbrella. We agree on the need for accountability, but there is also an enormous need for preventive measures across our coast — not to mention in other states on the Gulf of Mexico and the east and west coasts.

Given how complex these issues are, the new bill should be an opening statement from the directly affected states, about the future of a program that’s profoundly important not just to Louisiana but to the entire nation.