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              Congressional                                                     ____
          S£   Research Service
 ~ nforrning th2 Iegislative debate since *|914




 Flood Buyouts: Federal Funding for Property

 Acquisition



 Updated   November 29, 2023


 Flooding is the most frequent natural disaster in the United States and experts expect effects to intensify
 in the future. Buyouts offer one way to reduce flood risk. Unlike other approaches to flood mitigation,
buyouts eliminate future losses by removing properties from areas at risk of flooding.
A flood buyout is a property acquisition in which a government agency purchases private property,
relocates or demolishes any structures on it, and preserves the land as open space in perpetuity to restore
and conserve natural floodplain functions. The local government is responsible for maintaining parcels of
bought-out land and buyout programs generally do not include funding for future design, maintenance, or
use of bought-out land.
In the case of property acquisition and demolition, often using federal funding, a local or state
government purchases flood-prone land and structures from willing sellers and demolishes the structures.
Alternatively, state or local governments purchase land from willing sellers and assist the property owners
with relocation to another site. If the new location is in a flood zone, the structure must meet the
community's building codes (e.g., elevation above a certain height). In both cases, the bought-out land
must be maintained as open space.


Federal Funding for Buyouts

Flood buyouts can be funded by several federal programs:
      Any of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation
       Assistance (HMA) grant programs: the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the
       Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Grant Program (BRIC), the Flood
       Mitigation Assistance Grant Program (FMA), and the Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving
       Loan Fund Program;
      National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Increased Cost of Compliance Coverage;
      FEMA  Public Assistance;


                                                               Congressional Research Service
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