{"id":2844,"date":"2025-06-16T11:02:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T15:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/?p=2844"},"modified":"2025-07-14T13:10:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:10:40","slug":"blue-acres-receives-approval-for-a-fifth-batch-of-fema-flood-buyout-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/blue-acres-receives-approval-for-a-fifth-batch-of-fema-flood-buyout-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Acres Receives Approval for a Fifth Batch of FEMA Flood Buyout Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment --><\/p>\n<p>The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a fifth batch of Blue Acres buyout funding for <strong>four<\/strong> additional properties, following the <strong>first batch approval<\/strong> for 14 properties in January 2024, <strong>second batch approval<\/strong> for 37 properties in April 2024, <strong>third batch approval<\/strong> for 42 properties in May 2024, and <a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/blue-acres-receives-approval-for-a-fourth-batch-of-fema-flood-buyout-funding\/\"><strong>fourth batch approval<\/strong><\/a> for 4 properties in February 2025. These approvals are part of the $50 million Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) allocation for voluntary buyouts in New Jersey following Hurricane Ida\u2019s impact in September 2021. With this latest approval, the total obligated buyout funds under HMGP post-Ida is now <strong>$46.6 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Homeowners awaiting buyout funding opportunities, including HUD-funded buyouts, can be assured that Blue Acres will continue to provide timely updates as new information becomes available.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The newly approved properties are located in <strong>Hillsborough, Millstone Borough, Hopewell, <\/strong>and <strong>New Milford<\/strong>. Blue Acres staff notified the owners immediately via phone calls and emails, assigning case managers to guide them through the voluntary buyout process.<\/p>\n<p>With this fifth batch approval, the total number of approved properties under HMGP has reached<span style=\"color: #333333\"> <strong>101<\/strong><\/span>. All properties proposed for buyout funding meet State and FEMA criteria for reducing flood hazard risks to life and property. Among the priority categories represented by the homes in Batch 5:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>All four homes<\/strong> are in FEMA-mapped flood zones, including the 100-year Special Flood Hazard Area, with one located in the floodway, the highest-risk zone for fast-moving floodwaters.<\/li>\n<li><strong>One home<\/strong> was declared <strong>substantially damaged (SD)<\/strong>, meaning that flood damage exceeded at least 50% of the structure\u2019s value.<\/li>\n<li><strong>All four homes<\/strong> are classified as <strong>\u201crepetitive loss\u201d <\/strong>or <strong>\u201csevere repetitive loss\u201d<\/strong>, based on multiple flood insurance payouts through FEMA\u2019s National Flood Insurance Program.<\/li>\n<li><b>One home<\/b> is located in <strong>state-identified Overburdened Communities (OBC)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2848\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2848\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/175\/111-kimberlyrd-lilivader76.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2848\" src=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/175\/111-kimberlyrd-lilivader76-1024x597.jpg\" alt=\"A heavily flooded road in a Hillsborough neighborhood, with water submerging the lower half of a car, leaving only the roof and upper windows visible.\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/111-kimberlyrd-lilivader76-1024x597.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/111-kimberlyrd-lilivader76-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/111-kimberlyrd-lilivader76-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/111-kimberlyrd-lilivader76-1536x896.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/111-kimberlyrd-lilivader76.jpg 1852w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Severe flooding during Ida leaves a Hillsborough neighborhood submerged, with cars stranded in rising waters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Currently, <strong>13 properties remain under FEMA review<\/strong>, awaiting approval. As FEMA continues to approve additional buyouts, Blue Acres will promptly notify homeowners and local governments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Importance of Buyouts in Flood Resilience<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The goal of FEMA\u2019s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is to reduce losses from future disasters. Blue Acres helps achieve this by:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Removing homes from high-risk flood areas<\/strong>, allowing residents to relocate to safer locations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Returning purchased land to open space<\/strong>, increasing flood storage capacity and reducing risk to surrounding communities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>By eliminating vulnerable structures and restoring flood buffers, buyouts not only protect homeowners but strengthen entire communities against future storms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blue Acres remains a fully voluntary program<\/strong>, working only with willing sellers. From initial interest to final closing, the buyout process ensures that homeowners make informed decisions about their next steps.<\/p>\n<p>As part of NJDEP\u2019s <strong>Office of Climate Resilience<\/strong>, Blue Acres continues to play a vital role in advancing New Jersey\u2019s Climate Change Resilience Strategy\u2014helping families move out of harm\u2019s way and making communities stronger in the face of future floods.<\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a fifth batch of Blue Acres buyout funding for four additional properties, following the first batch approval for 14 properties in January 2024, second batch approval for 37 properties in April 2024, third batch approval for 42 properties in May 2024, and fourth batch approval for 4 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":468,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2844"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2876,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844\/revisions\/2876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}