Problems with Buyout Programs

Some important issues make these programs less effective than they could be. In this section we explore these issues as well as ways to improve outcomes.

Long Process

A major problem is that the average buyout process takes 5 years, which is far too slow for people facing homelessness, especially with the increasing rates and intensities of calamities including sea level rise which don't wait for bureaucracy. 

Long Waits Increase Costs

"Wait times for buyouts take five years on average. Costs for fixes and temporary housing stack up in the interim."  - Uprooted: As the Climate Crisis Forces U.S. Residents to Relocate, a New Conversation Emerges

Inequality

Lack of Standards for Best Practices and Lack of Guidance or Support

One article pointed out that "despite federal buyout programs dating back decades, no official set of best practices or standards exists. ... Guidance for homeowners on navigating the buyout process is confusing or nonexistent, and relocation policies and funding focus on the individual, not on neighborhoods or communities that want to stay together. 

At the local level, communities considering relocation face a range of social and financial barriers. Municipalities don’t tend to encourage relocation, because they don’t want to lose population or tax revenue. And residents—especially those reeling from a crisis—often lack the capacity and resources to find a new, safe place to live, even if they are willing to leave."

Even though flood-driven relocations have been happening since the 1970's, "knowledge sharing is rare, as is coordination that could help other communities to refine or even reimagine the process." - Uprooted: As the Climate Crisis Forces U.S. Residents to Relocate, a New Conversation Emerges

Improve Data Gathering & Communication Around Buyouts and Managed Retreats

"Network members have started using more empowering alternatives to “managed retreat,” including “community-led relocation” and “supported relocation.” But the goal isn’t to come up with a single new term or a rigid plan that can be universally adopted. As Marcell notes, it can be “very offensive” when outsiders approach communities with nothing but models and templates. 

“You can’t expect to build trust in a community if you don’t start with an open-ended conversation about how to approach the issue, because [each] context is so unique,” she says. Instead, the network aims to co-create, with each of the three community-based organizations, a method for identifying the specific needs and goals of each place. That includes identifying and interviewing community “influencers” and, with the help of Buy-In Community Planning, developing questions for a door-to-door survey. 

“There’s a lot more individual interaction and coaching that needs to be done with people who are at the hard edge of climate change,” says Osamu Kumasaka of Buy-In Community Planning. He first came to this conclusion while working as a Consensus Building Institute mediator in Piermont, New York, in 2017. The Hudson River town was experiencing the beginnings of chronic flooding: water in basements, swamped backyard gardens, denizens wading through streets on their way to work. A wealthy small town with its own flood resilience committee and access to world-class flood risk data, Piermont nonetheless found itself uncertain about how to move forward. 

“We really struggled to figure out how to squeeze all the work that needed to be done with all these homeowners into public meetings,” Kumasaka says. Each household had very specific factors influencing decisions to stay or leave: elderly parents with special needs, kids about to graduate from high school, plans to retire. Organizing surveys, small discussions, and individualized risk assessments was a more effective approach, Kumasaka says, in helping the community get a better picture of where it stands and where it wants to go."

Additional Actions to Support Buy Out Programs

Create and Enforce Legislation Banning New Developments

Specifically in known flood zones and areas predicted to be lost to sea level rise.

In areas without this type of legislation, many people have been sold home in known flood zones, within 100 year flood zones, and other unsuitable places. These homes are prone to repeated flooding which can push families into a poverty situation where they are unable to sell their homes (because they flood repeatedly) which leaves them without the funds to leave or keep rebuilding. Governments need to offer buy-out programs and work with conservation organizations to clear the badly-placed buildings. The land can function as both wild space and as permeable land to help absorb future flood waters, protecting nearby communities.

Information for Governments & Planners

• Floodplain Buyouts: An Action Guide for Local Governments on How to Maximize Community Benefits, Habitat Connectivity, and Resilience (PDF)

• Georgetown Climate: Managed Retreat Toolkit: Voluntary Buyouts

• Innovations in Buyouts Workshops "Practitioners, community members, researchers, and advocates have long observed challenges with federally-financed home buyout programs. At the same time, demand for buyouts is growing in many areas. Current programs and funding sources are not meeting communities’ and individuals’ needs for relocation support.
  
  The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), CH Consulting, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Climigration Network convened two workshop series—one with buyout practitioners and program managers, and one with buyout participants and community leaders—to discuss shared challenges and identify practical recommendations for making buyouts faster, easier, and fairer."

Existing Buyout Programs

Alabama

Birmingham Buyout Program Enhances Community’s Resilience "This buyout program has had several benefits in addition to permanently reducing flood losses and claims. The implementation of these buyout programs has led to the creation of W.C. Patton Park, Ensley Trail and Village Creek Linear Park. Through the creation of these parks, the city has increased residents' opportunities for recreation and interaction with nature. The buyout program also assisted with the restoration of the floodplain from developed land to its natural state, contaminant loads of pollutants such as fecal coliform, organic matter, nutrients and sediments have been reduced by an estimated 97-99% compared to pre-buyout conditions. This has significant beneficial impacts on the water quality of Birmingham's creeks (Revell, 2011)."

Alaska

California

• Napa River Basin Flood Protection Project "project designers bought and restored a large area of pastureland to a wetland environment capable of holding water."

Delaware

Florida

• City of Marathon: Voluntary Home Buyout Program

• Monroe County Voluntary Home Buyout Program "These funds will allow Monroe County to purchase the property and the home of voluntary sellers who were impacted by Hurricane Irma. The home will be demolished and the land will serve as open space in perpetuity. If deemed necessary, the land may also be used for stormwater management or recreational purposes. Participating homeowners may decline to sell their home at any point prior to the closing."

• Bay County: Voluntary Home Buyout Program "The State of Florida has allocated $27,000,000 to the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Voluntary Home Buyout Program. The goal of the program is to reduce the risk of flooding through the purchase of damaged or destroyed properties impacted by Hurricane Michael. Your property may also be eligible for purchase if it is located in a High Risk Flood Area, Special Flood Hazard Area or if outside of these areas meets the following criteria: 1. property is substantially damaged 51% or more of the pre-Hurricane Michael value; 2. Property is a health/safety risk; or 3. property is located in a floodway.
  
  This program will allow Bay County to purchase your property at the pre-Hurricane Michael fair market value for both the land and the house. The house will be demolished and the property will be held for conservation, recreation, or storm water management purposes in perpetuity. Buyout participant interest form"

• The Flood Mitigation Assistance Program "is funded by FEMA and administered through a partnership with the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). FDEM has the authority and responsibility for developing and maintaining a State Hazard Mitigation Plan, reviewing Flood Mitigation Assistance Program subapplications, recommending technically feasible and cost-effective subapplications to FEMA and providing pass-thru funding for FEMA-approved and awarded project grants to eligible subapplicants."

Georgia

• The Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) "program was created as part of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 4101) with the goal of reducing or eliminating claims under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Funding for the program is provided through the NFIP. The FMA program provides funding to assist States and communities in implementing measures to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings, manufactured homes, and other structures insurable under the NFIP. To be eligible to apply for FMA grants, a community must both participate and be in good standing in the NFIP, as well as have an approved Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Hazard Mitigation Plan must include mitigation actions that support the proposed project. Additionally, a letter of support from the county emergency management agency director is needed for each application."

Hawaii

Louisiana

• Statewide Buyout Program "This voluntary program provides property buyouts in flood-prone areas, as part of the Louisiana Watershed Initiative’s efforts to reduce flood risk throughout Louisiana. The buyout program, which is designed to primarily benefit low- to moderate-income residents, offers an incentive—payment above fair market value—to eligible applicants who relocate to areas of lower flood risk."

New Jersey

• DEP Blue Acres "Since its inception in 1995, DEP Blue Acres has worked to better protect public safety and the environment by relocating New Jersey families whose homes are subject to repeated flooding and acquiring property for use as natural flood storage, parks, and community open space."

New York

North Carolina

• ReBuild NC: Strategic Buyout Program "offers eligible property owners located in flood-prone areas the chance to sell their home and relocate to a safer area. The Strategic Buyout Program has worked with local governments to identify areas with the greatest risk of damage from future hurricanes and floods. These areas are known as disaster risk reduction areas or buyout zones. You must own property in one of these areas to be eligible for the Strategic Buyout Program. Applicants will be contacted by the program to confirm that they are located in a buyout zone. Properties purchased by the Strategic Buyout Program will be demolished, cleared, and permanently maintained as green space by the local government.
  
  If you choose to participate in the Strategic Buyout Program, you may be eligible to receive a buyout award based on the current appraised market value of your property. Additionally, primary resident property owners may qualify for an incentive package designed to help you and your family affordably move to a less risky area."

Puerto Rico

Maps & Tools

Maps by Region Check specific State and Country pages to see if there are more specific maps, tools, projects, and groups for specific areas. If you have suggestions, we would love to hear what else we can include. 

North America

USA

• USA Flood Factor Interactive map can be used to find specific addresses, and see how historical flooding as affected existing roads and neighborhoods. Please scroll down in page to find the partial US map, or type in an address and scroll down to find the interactive map.

• NOAA Flood Map Check specific State and Country pages to see if there are more specific maps, tools, projects, and groups in your area. If you have suggestions, we would love to hear what else we can include. Some states have watershed, county, and city level maps. Other sections such as plastic, agriculture may be worth checking to understand how pollution enters our water ways, and how industries might endanger water sources without proper regulation, mitigation, or clean up systems to protect communities from these threats. 

North Carolina

• Floodplain Buyouts: An Action Guide for Local Governments on How to Maximize Community Benefits, Habitat Connectivity, and Resilience This document includes some maps that show how buy out parcels can be mapped, and what it can look like when there are hold outs. Examples are specifically from North Carolina.

Organizations

North America

USA

• Anthropocene Alliance (A2) "has almost 300 member-communities in 41 U.S. states and territories. They are impacted by flooding, toxic waste, wildfires, and drought and heat — all compounded by reckless development and climate change. The consequence is broken lives and a ravaged environment.

The goal of A2 is to help communities fight back. We do that by providing them organizing support, scientific and technical guidance, and better access to foundation and government funding. Most of all, our work consists of listening to our frontline leaders. Their experience, research, and solidarity guide everything we do, and offer a path toward environmental and social justice.

Supported by outstanding partner organizations with expertise in engineering, hydrology, public health, planning, and the law, A2 leaders have successfully halted developments in climate-vulnerable areas; implemented nature-based hazard mitigation strategies; organized home buyouts; and pushed for clean-ups at superfund sites, toxic landfills, and petrochemical plants.

We support everyone we can, but our special priority is people who have suffered the worst environmental impacts for the longest time; that usually means low-income, Black, Latinx, Native American and other underserved communities.

To learn about our policies, read our A 10-Point Platform on Climate Change."

New York

• Adopt A House "is a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency and is dedicated to help re-build our local communities by bringing valuable information, solutions and financial assistance to Long Island residents affected by Super Storm Sandy and other emergency situations. Run entirely by volunteers, Adopt A House's simple mission is to support recovery for Long Island's SouthShore by preparing and administering a comprehensive disaster aid and long term recovery program to individuals, families and the community. Adopt A House also contributes assistance to individuals in unfortunate emergency circumstances by easing financial burdens and offering help and guidance. We achieve this mission through multiple avenues including, but not limited to: educational workshops, community outreach, programs for financial assistance, community service, and acting as liaison between elected officials and registered families. We are constantly striving to improve our ability to assess housing needs, improve community services and raise funds that go directly to registered families and our programs."

Grants & Funding

Asia

North America

USA

• The Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program "is a competitive program that provides funding to states, federally recognized Tribal governments, U.S. territories, and local governments. Since the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 was signed into law, funds are used for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program.
  
  FEMA chooses recipients based on the applicant’s ranking of the project, eligibility, and cost-effectiveness of the project.
  
  FEMA requires state, local, federally recognized Tribal governments, and U.S. territories  to develop and adopt hazard mitigation plans as a condition for receiving certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance, including funding for hazard mitigation assistance projects. For more information, refer to the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Guidance."

• Chesapeake and Coastal Grants Gateway "a DNR program that provides resources for communities to plan and carry out nature-based risk reduction projects."

Missouri

• Unified Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Grants