On October 1, GAO released a report finding that 86 percent of properties at high risk of flooding lacked National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) coverage as of April 2026. The report, addressed to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), Rep. French Hill (R-AR) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), found that the federal mandatory purchase requirement, which applies to properties with federally backed mortgages in federally designated special flood hazard areas, is the primary driver of flood insurance purchases: an estimated 43 percent of properties in those areas had coverage, compared with 2 percent outside them. However, GAO found the requirement does not reach most at-risk properties because federal flood maps generally do not account for heavy rainfall, leaving about 13 million high-risk properties outside designated hazard areas.

GAO recommended that Congress consider: (i) updating the mandatory purchase requirement criteria to include all sources of flood risk, including heavy rainfall; (ii) directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to collect and publicly release property-level flood risk information; (iii) requiring lenders making federally backed mortgages to ensure homebuyers receive a flood insurance quote before closing and to obtain a signed risk disclosure when buyers decline voluntary coverage; and (iv) increasing NFIP coverage limits, which have remained at $250,000 for residential and $500,000 for commercial policies since 1994, and establishing a mechanism to adjust them periodically.

In comments on a draft version of the report, USDA’s Rural Housing Service expressed support for the second and fourth recommendations, but opposed the first and third, stating that expanding the purchase requirement would significantly increase housing costs and requiring preclosing quotes and signed disclosures would create closing delays, documentation burdens, and legal exposure. GAO responded that leaving homes uninsured is “far less affordable,” that affordability concerns could be addressed through means-based assistance, and that the lender quote burden could be eased through existing homebuying processes and would be outweighed by “increased risk awareness and protection.”