Dive Brief:
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency in late October announced $1.3 billion in funding and funding opportunities for disaster assistance, hazard mitigation and resilience programs, and flood-risk reduction.
- The $400 million funding opportunity through the Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program is designed to help states, territories, tribal nations and the District of Columbia reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings and structures.
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The agency awarded more than $896 million for some 620 projects and assistance programs, most of them to help state, territorial and local governments recover from and prepare for disasters. FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton last month told emergency managers that states should prepare to respond to disasters without federal help in as soon as six months, but recent federal government reports indicate that funding and staffing challenges at state and local emergency management agencies could make that difficult.
Dive Insight:
In September, FEMA approved nearly $8.2 million in post-disaster funding and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program projects. “FEMA disburses this money to states and local communities because they are best positioned to know how these funds will be most effectively spent,” the agency stated in that announcement.
Of the $896 million awarded in October, more than $90 million will support approximately 75 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program projects, and more than $2.7 million will fund Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities projects in Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
The BRIC awards are an about-face for the Trump administration. FEMA announced in April 2025 it was ending the BRIC program, which funds transportation planning, water infrastructure improvements, hospital protection and tsunami and earthquake preparedness. It reinstated BRIC in March after a judge ruled the termination was unlawful.
In May, FEMA announced it was making $1 billion in BRIC funding available for states and local governments with “a renewed focus on infrastructure-related hazard mitigation projects and empowering state and local leaders.”
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report released in October found that more than 700 subapplications for BRIC grants — worth $2.2 billion — remain in limbo, however.
The Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program funds building acquisitions and elevations and communitywide projects such as drainage improvements and soil stabilization. The agency said flooding is “the nation’s most common and costly natural disaster.” Applications for the program are open through Feb. 26, 2027. FEMA will host an application assistance webinar Nov. 4.
