Preventing Environmental Hazards Act of 2025

Key Points

• This bill allows the National Flood Insurance Program to pay homeowners to tear down or move their houses before they fall into the water. Currently, insurance often only pays after a house is destroyed, but this change would help people take action when a building is officially declared unsafe due to shoreline erosion.
• If a local government decides a home is too dangerous to live in because the ground is washing away, the owner can get money for two options. They can receive 100% of the home's value (up to $250,000) to demolish it, or up to 40% of the value to move the house to a safer location.
• To qualify for this help, the homeowner must have already had flood insurance for at least one year before the law passes, or for four continuous years before they make a claim. This prevents people from buying insurance only after they realize their house is about to fall in.
• There is a major catch: once a homeowner accepts this money to move or demolish their house, that specific piece of land can never get federal flood insurance or most types of disaster relief again. This is meant to ensure the government doesn't keep paying to rebuild in high-risk areas.
• The payments are strictly for the structure of the house itself and do not cover any furniture, clothes, or other items inside. The maximum amount anyone can receive under this specific erosion rule is $250,000.