A recent analysis of FEMA’s 30-year-old property buyout program brings into question who actually benefits from the program.
The University of Miami study, published today in the journal Science Advances, found that homeowners hoping to relocate out of flood zones don’t have equal access to the main source of federal funding meant to help them.
The study looked at more than 40,000 records for flood-prone homes that have been purchased by local governments with the help of FEMA since the late 1980s and found that the buyouts are more likely to take place in counties with higher population and income. However, the buyouts themselves were concentrated in neighborhoods with lower income and greater social vulnerability. This leaves out rural, poorer areas.
The analysis also showed that the top three states for most flood damage—Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi—ranked 23, 18, and 21 respectively in deployment of buyouts, pointing out that not all flood-damaged areas are currently using the FEMA program for flood risk management.
One reason wealthier counties might be receiving more buyouts is that it requires significant bureaucratic and monetary resources to apply for and distribute buyout funds. FEMA generally pays for 75% of the cost of a home, so local and state governments must find the remaining money elsewhere.
“The buyout program represents billions of dollars in government spending, yet until now, we didn’t have a broad understanding of who benefitted from those investments,” says Miyuki Hino, co-author of the study, in a prepared statement. “Now, we can see not only who has benefitted, but also what types of places and communities may be falling through the cracks.” See the full study.
