Multihazard Mitigation Council & Council on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (2015). Developing pre-disaster resilience based on public and private incentivization. Washington, DC

Developing pre-disaster resilience based on public and private incentivization

Resilience has come to occupy a place in public policy and programs across the United States. Yet, even in the face of growing losses and the deleterious effects of natural disasters, the nation’s capacity and appetite is waning for continued funding of federal and state pre- and postdisaster mitigation efforts to create resilience. A new approach is necessary—one focused on capturing all of the potential incentives provided by both the public and private sectors for preand post-hazard investment. The most cost-effective manner to achieve resilience is through a holistic and integrated set of public, private, and hybrid programs based on capturing opportunities available through mortgages and loans; insurance; finance; tax incentives and credits; grants; regulations; and enhanced building codes and their application. This focus on private/public-sector opportunities to induce corrective action is called “incentivization.”

This paper provides a catalogue of existing programs for different hazards that private and public-sector stakeholders can evaluate, and then modify or expand to develop incentives.