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martyb writes:

New Study Analyzes FEMA-Funded Home Buyout Program

An analysis of FEMA's 30-year-old property buyout program offers new insight into the growing debate on managed retreat—moving people and assets out of flood-prone areas.

A research team led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found that FEMA-funded voluntary buyouts of flood-prone properties have been more likely to take place in counties with higher population and income. However, the buyouts themselves were concentrated in neighborhoods with lower income and greater social vulnerability. The researchers hope their analysis can provide insights to help revise this program in the future.

"In recent decades, communities throughout the United States have been building experiences with retreat from flood-prone areas, largely through voluntary buyouts of properties after disasters," said the study's lead author Katharine Mach, an associate professor of marine ecosystems and society at the UM Rosenstiel School. "While a proven method of reducing risk, buyouts to date have also illustrated the challenges with locally driven managed retreat and the potential benefits of experimentation with different retreat policies in the future."

In the U.S., over 40,000 homes in flood-prone areas have been purchased and returned to open space in 49 states and three U.S. territories under the FEMA program since its inception in the late 1990s. The federally funded program is typically administered through local government agencies.

Mach and colleagues analyzed data on the more than 40,000 buyouts alongside data on flood risk, socioeconomics and demographics to reveal that local governments in counties with higher population and income were more likely to administer buyouts of flood-prone properties. However, at the zip-code level, the bought-out properties themselves were concentrated in areas of lower population and income.