On September 23, 2024, the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) posted a draft Mortgagee Letter, Adoption of Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) for Minimum Property Standards (MPS) in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA), on the Single Family Housing Drafting Table.
The draft includes new guidance for implementing the Final Rule, Floodplain Management and Protection of Wetlands; Minimum Property Standards for Flood Hazard Exposure; Building to the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, published in April 2024 by the HUD Office of Environment and Energy.
The draft includes amendments to minimum property standards for all newly built single-family residential properties, except for manufactured homes, that are financed through the FHA Single Family program. The adoption of the new standards is intended to improve homeowners’ resilience to flood exposure and decrease flood damage. For instance, a proposed requirement of FHA’s Minimum Property Standards for new construction of dwellings located within the 1-percent-annual-chance (100-year) floodplain is that the lowest floor of the property be built at least two feet above the base flood elevation. This would be applicable to FHA-insured mortgages on homes with a building permit application of January 1, 2025, or later. By elevating new construction in flood zones, FHA expects homeowners to realize savings through lower insurance premiums, and avoidance of relocation or temporary housing expenses.
FHA invites interested parties to review the draft of the proposed guidance and provide feedback through October 7, 2024. To provided feedback, interested parties must download and complete the Feedback Response Worksheet linked on the Drafting Table, then email the completed worksheet to sffeedback@hud.gov.
