The Federal Emergency Management Agency has offered Senate lawmakers some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the National Flood Insurance Program as Congress considers reauthorization, including increasing mortgage borrowers’ access to private flood insurance. Testifying this week during a Senate hearing, Roy Wright, deputy associate administrator of the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, urged the Senate Committee on Banking and Urban Affairs to reauthorize the NFIP before it expires on Sept. 30, 2017, and to extend it for multiple years. FIMA directs FEMA’s risk management, mitigation and flood-insurance programs. The stability of the real estate and mortgage markets depend on an “on-time, multi-year reauthorization,” said Wright. “All federally-backed mortgage lenders are required to verify that properties in special flood-hazard areas (SFHA) have ...