The housing market in one of the nation’s most flood-prone regions is suffering because of higher flood insurance rates charged by the federal government, Louisiana officials told a judge who is deciding whether to block the rate hikes.
The government’s decision in 2021 to charge insurance rates that reflect flood risk more accurately is causing premiums to rise on millions of property owners, including many in Louisiana. The federal government sells most of the nation’s flood insurance, and one aim of the policy is to deter construction in flood-prone areas.
In coastal Louisiana — where some premiums will increase tenfold to $7,000 over the next five years — local officials said the higher costs are blocking development and preventing people from buying homes.
“Building has almost completely stopped,” Matthew Jewell, president of St. Charles Parish, told a federal judge at a hearing last September. A transcript was made available only recently through the federal judiciary’s online court system.
