Browsing by Subject "community rating system"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Flood Risk Management: Exploring the Impacts of the Community Rating System Program on Poverty and Income Inequality
    (2017) Noonan, Douglas S.; Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem A.
    Flooding remains a major problem for the United States, causing numerous deaths and damaging countless properties. To reduce the impact of flooding on communities, the U.S. government established the Community Rating System (CRS) in 1990 to reduce flood damages by incentivizing communities to engage in flood risk management initiatives that surpass those required by the National Flood Insurance Program. In return, communities enjoy discounted flood insurance premiums. Despite the fact that the CRS raises concerns about the potential for unevenly distributed impacts across different income groups, no study has examined the equity implications of the CRS. This study thus investigates the possibility of unintended consequences of the CRS by answering the question: What is the effect of the CRS on poverty and income inequality? Understanding the impacts of the CRS on poverty and income inequality is useful in fully assessing the unintended consequences of the CRS. The study estimates four fixed-effects regression models using a panel data set of neighborhood-level observations from 1970 to 2010. The results indicate that median incomes are lower in CRS communities, but rise in floodplains. Also, the CRS attracts poor residents, but relocates them away from floodplains. Additionally, the CRS attracts top earners, including in floodplains. Finally, the CRS encourages income inequality, but discourages income inequality in floodplains. A better understanding of these unintended consequences of the CRS on poverty and income inequality can help to improve the design and performance of the CRS and, ultimately, increase community resilience to flood disasters.
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    Local capacity and resilience to flooding: community responsiveness to the community ratings system program incentives
    (Springer, 2015-09) Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; Noonan, Douglas S.; School of Public and Environmental Affairs
    To incentivize more community flood risks mitigation, the US Congress implemented the community rating system (CRS) in 1990. The CRS seeks to help communities build capacity to address flood risks and become more resilient to future flood disasters. Communities participating in CRS can reduce their flood risks and enjoy discounted premiums (up to 45 %) on federally required flood insurance commensurate with their community’s CRS score. A participant community is placed into one of the ten classes depending on its CRS score. Although previous research finds that the program’s structure creates opportunities for communities participating in CRS to respond to its incentives, no study has examined the characteristics of communities that changed their mitigation behavior due to this incentive scheme. In order to evaluate the performance of CRS and its tiered incentive structure, this study investigates the extent to which communities are responding strategically to CRS incentives and the characteristics of those communities behaving strategically. This study uses a regression discontinuity approach to compare the characteristics of communities above and below CRS class thresholds. The results show strategic behavior of communities participating in CRS. Communities with more information-based flood management activities, lower property values, lower flood risk, and lower population densities are more likely to respond strategically with respect to smaller CRS subsidies. For larger subsidies, the results indicate that CRS communities with higher property values are more likely to respond strategically to the policy incentives. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for the CRS program.
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    Participation and non-participation in FEMA's Community Rating System (CRS) program: Insights from CRS coordinators and floodplain managers
    (Elsevier, 2020-09) Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; Tyler, Jenna; Noonan, Douglas; School of Public and Environmental Affairs
    Given that floods cause the greatest economic impact and affect more communities annually than any other natural hazard, there is a compelling need to better understand how communities can enhance their resilience to future flood disasters. One mechanism for enhancing communities' resilience to future flood disasters is through participation in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Community Rating System (CRS). The CRS is a federal voluntary program that incentivizes communities in the United States to implement floodplain management activities that exceed those required under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In exchange for engaging in additional floodplain management activities, policyholders residing in CRS-participating communities receive discounts in their flood insurance premiums. To better understand the factors driving CRS participation, this study uses propensity score matching to match 100 randomly selected CRS participating communities with 100 non-CRS participating communities. Data gathered from CRS coordinators and floodplain managers indicate several factors are responsible for why communities participate, continue to participate, or do not participate the CRS. The main reason for participating in the CRS and continuing to participate is the reduction in flood insurance premiums, while the main reason for not joining the CRS is lack of resources (staff, funding, and time).
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    A review of community flood risk management studies in the United States
    (Elsevier, 2019-12) Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; Tyler, Jenna; Noonan, Douglas S.; School of Public and Environmental Affairs
    Given the substantial and diverse body of research on community flood risk management in the United States, there is a need to establish the current state of knowledge, synthesize the methodological dimensions of community flood risk management studies, and identify directions for future research on community flood risk management. The present study addresses these needs by conducting a comprehensive and systematic review of community flood risk management empirical studies in the United States. We searched three academic databases and identified 60 studies that met our selection criteria (e.g., study must be focused on flood risk management at the community level and conducted in the United States). Findings indicate that the number of studies on community flood risk management is increasing, most studies employ flood mitigation and flood impact as their dependent variables, the preferred analytical method is regression, and this literature is dominated by social scientists, among other findings. We discuss six themes that emerge, present four recommendations based on the gaps identified, and outline a robust research agenda for enhancing communities' resilience to future flood disasters.