Take Action: Tell Congress to Reauthorize the NFIP

A Call for Action is underway, with critical impact on homeownership in Chicago and across the country.

Take one minute right now to tell your legislators to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) before it expires on July 31.

This program is important to our industry and our economy. Since 1978, all but four Illinois counties have had paid claims through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) – including Cook County. But unless Congress renews the program by July 31, homeowners protected by the NFIP will be vulnerable to financial catastrophe. Each lapse in the NFIP costs 40,000 property sales per month and denies necessary insurance coverage to homeowners and buyers in more than 20,000 communities nationwide. It takes about a minute to contact your representative – we’ve made it easy for you.

1. Click here.
2. Fill out the form with your information.
3. Click “Review Your Message.”
4. Click “Send Your Message”

Our voice is critical to these efforts. Why?

• As the leading advocate for private property rights and housing issues, the National Association of REALTORS^®strongly supports the National Flood Insurance Program as a tool to help protect homeowners and ensure access to affordable flood insurance.
• Congress should reauthorize and reform the program before the July 31 deadline, as a lapse in authority could jeopardize the sale of up to 40,000 homes per month in the United States.
• It’s time for Congress to dedicate the requisite resources to mitigate the flood risk that millions of property owners face around the country while keeping insurance rates on a gradual glide path to market rates; reducing rates through risk mitigation is a “win-win” situation for taxpayers and property owners alike.
• NAR has supported legislation to sustain the NFIP so it can continue to provide flood insurance to residential and commercial property owners across the Nation and provide critical certainty in the real estate market.
• The program is critically important to Americans and the nation’s economy because it increases the number of insured properties and reduces the cost of post-flood disaster governmental assistance, saving taxpayers property and money.
• Learn more at the NAR National Flood Insurance Program portal.
• Check out a map of disaster declarations by county as well as a comparison of NFIP claim payments vs. disaster assistance in Illinois.

Thank you for supporting your industry! Take Action Now.