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FEMA's flood insurance program continues through shutdown after lobbying by real estate industry

Shutdown for What?

FEMA's flood insurance program continues through shutdown after lobbying by real estate industry

On December 21, 2018, President Trump signed a stopgap bill that keeps FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program alive during the government shutdown. (Courtesy U.S. Department of Defense/Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Kelley)

The night before President Donald Trump announced the federal government shutdown, he signed into law a stopgap bill that would reauthorize FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). “Adversarial journalism” outlet The Intercept reported on the bill and its potential connections to the nation’s real estate interests.

 Enacted in 1968, the NFIP was established in order to protect homes built on federally designated floodplains. Getting insurance through the program is a prerequisite for banks in providing mortgages to individuals buying relevant property. When FEMA announced on December 26 that it could not continue work, enter into contracts, or spend federal dollars because of the shutdown, many real estate interest groups got upset about the NFIP interruption.


The Intercept reported the president and Congress essentially forced FEMA to carry on issuing certifications after these parties cried out over the estimated 40,000 coastal home closings that would be lost per month without the service. The National Association of Realtors, among others, made it clear that shuttering this program during the shutdown would be a detrimental loss to the real estate business in the U.S.


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