North Carolina man waits for his $1 million home to tumble into the sea — FEMA will pay for a fall but not to save it

Foreman has residential flood insurance through FEMA, which provides over 95% of flood insurance nationwide. Unfortunately, they’ll only pay out once his house collapses.

“Environmentally, it would be far better if they would allow me to tear it down on a beautiful day where all the debris is in one spot,” said Foreman to NPR. “But by requiring the waiting game for it to fall, it’s going to fall in a storm, and it’s going to be scattered for miles.”

Here’s what you should know about FEMA’s policy around beach erosion — and what you should keep in mind if you have your own beachfront property.

FEMA’s current policy is bad for homeowners and the environment

Beachfront properties are increasingly at risk because of coastal erosion, where sea levels rise and rock and sand is whisked away from the shore. Houses that were previously protected from the waves find themselves collapsing either due to water exposure or shifting foundations.

The United States loses around $500 million of coastal property each year due to coastal erosion. There are ways to slow down erosion, but once your home has been put in structural danger by it, there’s not much you can do.

“There is no way to maintain homes where they currently are,” said Reide Corbett, climate scientist at East Carolina University, to NPR. “The only solution is to back off that front line.”

One of the most cost-effective ways to reduce beach erosion is called “coastal restoration,” when communities remove man-made buildings from a coastline and allow the beaches to return to their natural state.

But removing or relocating homes from the coastline is expensive. Demolishing houses costs tens of thousands of dollars, while moving your house to a more viable location can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Without FEMA’s help, many beachfront homeowners can’t afford to pay that. Instead of destroying or relocating their unlivable home, allowing the coastline to recover, FEMA makes the homeowners wait until the houses crash into the ocean before they can get a payout.

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of debris that comes with these collapses,” says Lisa Sharrard, a flood insurance agent in North Carolina, to NPR. “It leaves a legacy of hazard on the beach. It’s almost impossible to get everything.”

On top of that, homeowners have to spend potentially years waiting for their homes to collapse. At best, that’s a vacation home or rental property that can’t make money for the owners. At worst, homeowners could find themselves with no place to live and no insurance to cover a new home purchase.

If you have a beachfront property, be aware of what climate change could bring

If you own a property on the beachfront, it’s never too early to think about how coastal erosion could impact your home — even if you think it’s safe.

Thanks to climate change, coastal erosion is only getting worse. For example, if you live in California, this season’s record-breaking El Niño is likely to cause significant erosion.