NLIHC submitted comments on June 5 in response to a proposed rule issued by HUD in the Federal Register regarding the establishment of a new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) detailing how HUD takes flood risk into account when evaluating proposed uses of agency funding. The agency guidelines were developed based on guidance issued by the U.S. Water Resources Council (WRC) in response to a 2015 executive order by President Obama creating a federal risk management standard. The WRC guidance permitted agencies to develop their own standards based on WRC guidelines and included several options for the creation of agency-specific measurements of elevation and hazard risk when siting, designing, and constructing federally funded buildings. In its 2021 Climate Action Plan, HUD committed to updating its regulations to meet these new FFRMS standards.
HUD’s new approach centers the analysis of flood risk around the use of a Climate-Informed Science Approach (CISA), which integrates data and research on the potential future impact of sea level rise. The agency will use this measurement where available as opposed to FEMA’s mapping of 1-percent-annual-chance floodplains based on historical flood data. In addition, the rule would implement a larger, eight-step standard for determining when HUD can permit its funds to be used to construct buildings within a flood plain or federal designated wetland, consolidate authority over conducting environmental impact reviews under the agency, and adjust mortgage-related program rules in areas within the floodplain. The rule also preserves HUD’s ability to provide funds for the repair and reconstruction of buildings already in a flood plain, along with requiring additional resiliency measures for such projects.
NLIHC’s comments address the requirements of new construction within flood plains and wetlands. While the ability to use HUD funding to repair and reconstruct housing damaged by flooding in floodplains and wetlands should be conserved to prevent the direct displacement of households with low incomes, the comment urges HUD to reconsider the placement of new housing within those same areas. Not only would the need to consistently repair HUD-funded buildings impacted by flooding drain scarce HUD resources, but the siting of housing for the lowest income households within areas prone to flooding would also put residents at risk. Floods can damage personal property, destroy vehicles, disrupt employment, and carry a wide variety of health-related hazards. Even if a housing unit itself is built to withstand a flood, the resident of the unit would be economically and socially impacted by the event, making it more difficult for them to maintain housing and income. The comment argues that HUD should implement a higher standard when considering the construction of new housing within flood prone areas and wetlands.
“HUD’s adoption of the new FFRMS is laudable,” reads a portion of the comment. “These standards are forward-looking, climate science-informed, and signify a step by HUD in acknowledging the need to ensure that households with low incomes are protected against the impacts of climate change. HUD should do more, however, to ensure new construction does not occur in flood plains or wetlands. By doing so HUD, can lessen the impact of riverine and coastal flooding, ensure households with low incomes are not placed in harm’s way and are not subjected to long, painful disaster recoveries, stop legacies of exclusionary planning practices, and ensure scarce financial resources are not spent on unnecessary resilience and mitigation activities.”
Read the full comment at: https://bit.ly/43tdmcA