Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said Thursday people in flood-prone areas need to start listening to God and realize they should move if their home has flooded multiple times.
"At some point, God's telling you to move," Hensarling said. "If all we do is force federal taxpayers to build the same homes in the same fashion in the same location and expect a different result, we all know that's the classic definition of insanity."
Hensarling explained that many homes in Texas and Louisiana have flooded numerous times over the years — including as a result of Hurricane Harvey last month — and each time the homeowners have benefited from the federal flood insurance program to rebuild and/or repair their home in the same spot.
"The federal government is encouraging and subsidizing people to live in harm's way," said Hensarling, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee.
"Another challenge we have is these repetitive loss properties. So for example, we have one property outside of Baton Rouge that has a modest home worth about $60,000 that's flooded over 40 times. The taxpayers have paid almost half a million dollars for it.
"In Houston, a home worth about $100,000 [has] flooded multiple times. Taxpayers have now paid $1 million for it."
Hensarling then raised the possibility of the federal government purchasing properties in flood-prone areas from homeowners and letting them return to what they once were: flood-absorbing areas that help keep other areas dry.
"We would be better off, they would be better off, if we bought out a lot of these properties and returned it to moisture-absorbing soil and have it part of a flood control plan," he said.
"Maybe we pay for your home once. Maybe we even pay for it twice. But at some point, the taxpayers gotta quit paying and you've got to move."
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