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68 damages incurred in the last five years account for a third of the $2.155 trillion total in disaster damages since 1980. Projections indicate problems will continue to grow. An analysis developed by the Risky Business Project—an organization focused on quantifying the economic risks of our changing climate—estimates that by 2050, between $66 billion and $140 billion in real estate will be below sea level. A report from the Mortgage Bankers Association adds expectations of increasingly devastating storms, excessive heat and wildfires, drought, and more. To the mortgage industry, these numbers are more than mere abstractions, as structural damage to buildings and homes makes up the lion's share of losses caused by climate and weather disasters. When flooding, wildfires, and other events wreak havoc on properties and upend lives, pending home purchases get derailed and homeowners default on mortgage loans, creating what Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Sandra L. ompson describes as "a serious threat to the U.S. housing finance system." As the FHFA and its regulated entities juggle their need to reduce the liability of securitizing mortgage loans in disaster-prone regions with their charge to equitably meet the housing needs of communities, boots-on-the- ground mortgage lenders and servicers are left to manage the immediate fallout. DATA DISASTER: A HURDLE FOR LENDERS AND SERVICERS e stakes are high when it comes to disaster response, making it imperative for lenders and servicers to contact impacted homebuyers, homeowners, and business partners to provide relevant assistance and communication as soon as possible. However, lenders and servicers that rely solely on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a source of disaster impact data put themselves, and ultimately the homeowners they serve, at a disadvantage. at's because FEMA disaster data often lags by days or weeks—resulting in delayed response times—and is too broad, which makes identifying impacted properties a time- consuming and resource-intensive task. To address loans impacted by natural disasters while maintaining margins, lender/ servicers need better disaster intelligence and a more automated way to notify the appropriate stakeholders. Luckily for lenders and servicers, advances in technology are giving them an unprecedented view into disaster impact as events unfold and enabling them to communicate at scale. ough not yet widely adopted, technology currently exists that gives the mortgage industry insight into disaster impacts with greater accuracy and speed than FEMA data alone. Today's disaster intelligence can identify properties likely affected by climate and weather events, pinpointing the street address with parcel- level accuracy by overlaying precipitation, storm paths, floodplain maps, and burn radiuses over property maps and updating this information daily as events unfold. Lenders and servicers can then integrate addresses identified by disaster intelligence and run them against pipeline and portfolio data to determine which files have likely been impacted and alert the appropriate stakeholders that action is needed. As large-scale climate and weather events become the new normal, disaster intelligence will play an integral role in servicers' and lenders' responses. BENEFITS FOR SERVICERS Modern disaster-tracking technology enables servicers to address three primary concerns: communicating with borrowers, protecting properties, and providing compliant service. For one, the ability to identify the number and locations of properties affected by a disaster with greater precision helps servicers provide better assistance to victims. Servicers can use this data to staff call centers with representatives who have been trained on disaster-related issues, schedule staff with language skills relevant to impacted communities, and generally ensure staffing is sufficient to prevent situations where customers languish on hold or are forced to Feature By: Richard Gagliano Even when adjusted for inflation, damages incurred in the last five years account for a third of the 2.155 trillion total in disaster damages since 1980.

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