POLITICO: "How FEMA Helps White and Rich Americans Escape Floods"
Senior Fellow Leonard Shabman shares his two cents with POLITICO and E&E News in an investigative story about systemic inequality in FEMA flood adaptation measures.
FEMA’s own reports show that people with federal flood insurance have nearly twice the income as people without it. In flood-prone states such as Louisiana and Texas, the disparity is even greater.
“Very few low-income people buy flood insurance,” said Leonard Shabman, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future who chaired a congressionally mandated committee that studied the affordability of flood insurance.
“In many parts of the country, low-income people are not property owners, they are renters. So right away you begin to see where this is going,” Shabman added.
