Letter to the Editor

Insurance rates must be reasonable

Posted

To the Editor:

On Monday night, the village of Valley Stream held a public hearing with regard to the adoption of the new FEMA flood maps, and an alarming issue emerged with regard to insurance rates.

It was discovered that a number of our constituents, who were in the flood zone prior to the 2009 FEMA flood maps, are being forced to pay thousands of dollars for flood insurance. They have not been placed in the federal Preferred Risk Program that caps a homeowner’s flood insurance rate at about $417 per year.


This may be a case of predatory insurance companies preying on our residents with insidious price gouging. This is very troubling.

Also, many of our residents who purchased homes in Valley Stream after 2009 are paying a high premium on flood insurance. Many stories were told of young homeowners sitting at closings and finding out that flood insurance will be extremely high. This is putting an undue hardship on our residents. This is also preventing positive economic growth in our area.

The village is respectfully asking that Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy and Congressman Gregory Meeks look into this matter to help our over-burdened constituents. As always, we thank them for their assistance in this matter.

Ed Fare
Valley Stream mayor