In his Nov. 22 column, Steve Fagin raises a question of whether people should be allowed to rebuild after a storm like Sandy.

This issue would have been resolved long ago if the federal government did not get involved in local issues.

There was a time when insurance companies decided not to write insurance policies to protect against flooding in flood-prone areas.

What was needed was a protection for existing homes. The local governments could have issued regulations that the existing homes would not be allowed to expand and no new buildings allowed to be built.

The state could have issued a regulation that the insurance companies would have to provide flood insurance for existing houses and in return, property owners would have to agree not to rebuild after the flood. If the property was damaged by the flood, the owner would rebuild in a different area and local or state government would buy the land.

But politicians never miss an opportunity to pass a law that gets the support of voters. So they got the federal government in the flood insurance business without any restrictions on rebuilding.

So when we think that federal government is the answer, we find out that the federal government is the problem.