Floodplain Buyout Programs: Uneven Assistance For Property Owners During Times Of Loss

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Flood buyouts are an active climate mitigation strategy used in the US to mitigate flood risk and remove people and property away from active flooding zones. Buyouts lessen human risk, decrease legal burdens, and restore land.

Certainly, reducing loss due to flooding while also increasing green spaces after-the-fact is beneficial. Yet many people’s lives are changed forever when floodplains become uninhabitable and they are forced to relocate their homes or businesses. Residents’ emotional and financial trauma from relocating can be overwhelming. Mental health disorder scales for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder are significant due psychological and social stress.

Flooding is the most frequent natural disaster in the US according to Congress, and the effects from flooding are only anticipated to intensify in the coming years. This trend, combined with population growth patterns and a variety of negative predicted effects of climate change, has contributed to a growing consensus that managed retreat will be a necessary component of flood mitigation strategies moving forward.

The list of the nation’s most flood-prone homes is growing longer. Major flood events cause billions of dollars in losses every year. A 2024 analysis of land use, impervious surface, and housing data with regulatory flood maps determined that nationwide from 2001 to 2019, 2.1 million acres of floodplain land were developed, and 844,000 residential properties were built in the floodplain. Development in areas prone to flooding increases flood risk by adding to the exposure of people and infrastructure and removing natural features that resist flooding.

The Natural Resources Defense Council calculated that, for every $100 that has been spent via federal funds to rebuild a flood-destroyed home in the US, it costs only $1.70 to help move people before a disaster.

The Flood Buyouts program in the US aims to diminish flood risk through property acquisition and transformation into green spaces. Throughout the year this initiative has been funded primarily by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), along with local government contributions. This mix of financial sources is no longer a certainty, with the Trump administration cutting FEMA and other federal programs severely, which has put pressure on states to fill in financial gaps.

It is important to note that no federal agencies give direct funding to homeowners. Even in federal and state level buyout programs, the money always goes through the local government.

Trump 2.0 funding cuts and policy changes seem to have abandoned some US flood-stricken communities so that floodplain buyouts are more uncertain than ever for property owners. The federal funding cuts have already halted some buyout plans.

For example, a Scranton, PA city buyout program in conjunction with FEMA was set to provide $2.5 million in funding to use towards demolishing flood-damaged homes. Then FEMA announced it would be ending its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. The city had raised about $800,000 for the project but was counting on the federal funds in order to complete it.

Representative Rob Bresnahan has urged FEMA to reinstate the BRIC program and provide relief for flood victims. “This program is a hand-up, not a hand-out, to at-risk communities who have suffered catastrophic weather events,” he implored.

A Sampling of Floodplain Buyouts across the US

Bennettsville, South Carolina and Tarboro, North Carolina: These predominantly Black communities have undergone state-led implementation of flood byouts. Long-standing issues within the buyout program that center around program design and communications were not fully resolved. State-led implementation of buyouts does ease financial pressures on local governments, but in this case the trickle-down of funding demonstrates how it can also create unintended consequences for local communities. Some of those consequences include extended delays, lack of trust in the government, and more rather than less confusion over the buyout process.

East Providence, Rhode Island: The Northern Rhode Island Conservation District received Emergency Watershed Protection Recovery Buyout assistance to purchase flood prone properties located in the Runnins River corridor. The roads in Luther’s Corner neighborhood experienced frequent flooding, rendering them impassable and hindering needed emergency response actions. The properties are in the process of being reverted back to their natural conditions to increase flood storage capacity along the river corridor.

Massachusetts: Governor Maura Healey’s administration has drafted a plan that calls for a study of evacuation infrastructure and the subsequent voluntary property buyout program in flood-prone areas. The plan outlines a 50-year coastal resilience strategy to safeguard vulnerable coastal communities — home to more than 3 million residents — from the escalating impacts of climate change. As WBUR reports, the efforts come as Massachusetts confronts a likely coastal future in which, by the 2070s, annual coastal property damage could exceed $1 billion, with more than 70% of that expected in the Boston Harbor region.

Texas: Texans are still shocked about the more than 130 people deaths and $18 billion to $22 billion in damage from July floods. Unfortunately, flooding as a result of climate change has become all-too-common for Texas residents, around 5 million people of whom live or work on floodplains. The devastation has had lasting consequences for those individuals whose real estate has been caught in the swirling, rushing waters. After numerous attempts to rebuild, even with new construction materials and higher elevation blueprints, experts have called for a stop on floodplain construction in Texas. As a result, a statewide, voluntary buyout program to move residents out of the most high-risk areas has been called for, as reported by Bloomberg.

How often do you think that Galveston floods annually? About 14 floods. In the 1950s, there really wasn’t any flooding.

Final Thoughts

Federal buyout requirements prevent redevelopment after demolition of structures. Policymakers and many departing residents hope that this sacrifice will leave behind restored landscapes. Once properties are no longer situated in floodplains, the expanse of natural surrounding areas creates more habitat and reduces overall susceptibility to flooding.

Floodplains can provide major ecological and economic benefits, according to experts, including sediment and nutrient reduction, carbon sequestration, groundwater recharge, fisheries, recreation, biodiversity, seasonal agriculture, water quality improvement, and cultural placemaking.

Nature-based solutions can serve as effective strategies to promote the resilience of both people and ecosystems and help to assuage the trauma of property relocation. Yet there is a correlating need for better disaster preparedness strategies, stronger mental health support, and improved social help to mitigate the long-term effects of flooding.