Residents in the city of Syracuse and the Syracuse Common Council are concerned the imposition of flood insurance payment would be detrimental to a city where poverty is so prevalent.

The payment is being imposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. More than 800 property owners in Syracuse will have to pay a flood insurance fee in two weeks as the federal agency added a new flood zone.

“FEMA comes into town and imposes these taxes on us without even a consideration of the economic hardship it provides the people,” Councilor Joe Nicoletti said. “My god, if you look at the people most affected, they are the people who need our help the most.”

In Syracuse, more than 30 percent of residents live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census. This makes it one of the most impoverished cities in America. In the South Side neighborhoods most affected by FEMA’s new flood map, the number is more than 70 percent, according to City-Data.com.

The flood zone issue is not just an issue of legislation or bureaucracy. Rather, Syracuse residents and Common Councilors say it is an issue of poverty.

On Monday, the Common Council voted in a resolution to urge the governor and state legislators to allow the city to grant tax exemptions to low-income people affected by the new FEMA flood zone insurance mandate.

The council has been working with FEMA to designate the new flood zone for more than 10 years, but various councilors said FEMA did not give them adequate notice before deciding to inforce new insurance rates.

“At least come into our city and give us a heads up of what you’re going to do,” Councilor Helen Hudson said. “Don’t just slap it in our faces and then strong-arm us.”

Common Council President Van Robinson and Councilors Nicoletti, Jean Kessner, Susan Boyle and Nader Maroun said the problem is people will not be able to afford the insurance premiums and eventually may need to leave their homes.

This is a sentiment echoed in the community. Joanne Stevens, a retired South Side resident whose home is now in a FEMA-designated flood zone, said she doesn’t know what she is going to do come Nov. 4, when she has to pay the new insurance premiums.

“I’m between a rock and a hard place,” Stevens said. “When you’re faced with that, what do you do?”

She said she doesn’t even know how much the flood insurance will cost her yet, but she has heard of other residents who are paying several hundred dollars a year. She is worried her neighbors will need to leave their homes since they won’t be able to pay the new rates.

“After so many months they’re going to come in and seize your house,” Stevens said. “I feel like they want us out anyway.”

There are more than 1,800 vacant homes in Syracuse, according to Syracuse United Neighbors. This number may increase when people have to start paying this insurance, Stevens said.

Louise Pointdexter, a retired Syracuse resident whose home is in the flood zone, said because she no longer has a mortgage on the house, she doesn’t need to purchase the insurance. But, she noted, most people in her neighborhood will need to pay the new premiums.

“Most people are barely paying their mortgages,” Pointdexter said. “I wish they had a choice, like I’ve got a choice. But they don’t have a choice.”

Pat Clayton, a Syracuse resident, said her house is not in the flood zone, but she is worried for her neighbors.

“How can you make somebody buy something they can’t afford?” Clayton said. “We do things based on what we can afford.”

Stevens, Pointdexter and Clayton all said the new tax insurance cuts the city council is trying to pass will not be enough to solve the issue, since the new premiums come into effect earlier than the tax cuts would and also since the root cause of the potential flooding is not being addressed.

“I really would like the solution to be that I don’t have to pay flood insurance,” Stevens said. “Why don’t you take care of the problem where it starts? I would much rather take my money and clean up clean up Onondaga Creek.”

Published on October 25, 2016 at 10:57 pm

Contact Aline: amarti22@syr.edu