It's when you write the rules that tell people how and where they can build. Those rules should meet or exceed the minimum standards of the National Flood Insurance Program. Do that for a couple of reasons. First, your constituents won't be able to purchase flood insurance unless you do. On a related note, communities that go the extra step of enacting especially strong rules can participate in our Community Rating System, which makes residents eligible for price breaks on insurance.
Most people think of building codes and land-use decisions as a local responsibility.
But uniform statewide codes can have tremendous value as well. So lend your support to strong flood standards in building codes and land use decisions, which brings me to the last point. Help ensure lender compliance. In some cases, the insurance requirement is dropped when the loan portfolios are transferred, although lenders are supposed to require flood insurance for the life of the loan. In other cases in which, buyers purchase insurance just to get through closing, later to drop it.