FEMA to lower discounts; raising flood insurance rates

A year and a half after Hurricane Ian, FEMA may have just dealt a final blow.

FEMA has announced its plans to lower the discount some homeowners get in the national flood insurance program.

“It’ll be a land of the haves and the have-nots, I guess,” said Janine Fine, a Cape Coral resident.

“My bills just keep going up and up and up,” said Sue Farel, another Cape Coral resident.

The discount in question is up to 25 percent in parts of Lee County. This includes Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers Beach, and unincorporated Lee.

And come October 1, it could disappear.

“Now you’re saying our floods is gonna go up? 25%?” said Farel, “it’s gonna be $5,000 a year over, and we don’t have a super nice house.”

The decision also doesn’t sit well with local leaders. Both Lee County and the city of Cape Coral say they were given no explanation.

According to FEMA, The retrograde is due to the large amounts of unpermitted work, lack of documentation, and failure to properly monitor activity in special flood zone areas.

FEMA shared a statement with WINK News saying they are committed to helping Lee County participate in the community rating system again and work towards future discounts.

Read the full statement below:

“We are committed to helping these communities take appropriate remediation actions to participate in the Community Rating System again and work towards future policy discounts.”

• One of FEMA’s responsibilities following a disaster is to ensure communities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations to reduce impacts from flooding.
• Adhering to local regulations allows for premium discounts for policy holders in communities that participate in the Community Rating System and ensures structures are rebuilt to withstand future storms.
• Following Hurricane Ian and over the last 18 months, we conducted site visits to several communities to ensure locally adopted floodplain management ordinances were being enforced. 
• On Thursday March 28, FEMA held calls with five communities about their status in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System.
•  Those calls informed community leaders that they would be losing their discounts for flood insurance policies starting Oct. 1, 2024.
•  This retrograde is due to the large amount of unpermitted work, lack of documentation, and failure to properly monitor activity in special flood hazard areas, including substantial damage compliance.

“I understand where they’re coming from. That’s not my fault,” said Farel. “I replaced my roof two years ago so that when I had a hurricane, I didn’t have any damage. I took care of that. People don’t. They wait for the hurricanes, so our insurance rates go up?”

Unincorporated Lee County and the City of Cape Coral both had a CRS class 5 rating, which is why they had a 25 percent discount. The people who live here want it to stay that way.

“I hope they’re able to achieve something,” said Fine

Cape Coral mayor John Gunter wasn’t so kind, saying, ” Make no mistake, FEMA is the villain in this nightmare.”

Local leaders are calling on FEMA to suspend their decision until they’ve had a meaningful decision until they’ve had a meaningful discussion with FEMA.

They say they’ve worked hard to maintain their CRS rating and want an opportunity to address FEMA’s concerns.