View Rule

As climate change results in more frequent and/or intense extreme weather events like severe storms, flooding and wildfires, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable in society and in furtherance of EO 13895, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) proposes to amend its Individual Assistance (IA) regulations to increase equity and ease of entry to the IA Program. To provide a full opportunity for underserved communities to participate, FEMA proposes to amend application of ‘safe, sanitary, and functional’ for IA repair assistance; re-evaluate the requirement to apply for a Small Business Administration loan prior to receipt of Other Needs Assistance; add eligibility criteria for its Serious Needs & Displacement Assistance; amend its requirements for Continued Temporary Housing Assistance; re-evaluate its approach to insurance proceeds; and amend its appeals process. FEMA also proposes revisions to reflect changes to statutory authority that have not yet been implemented in regulation, to include provisions for utility and security deposit payments, lease and repair of multi-family rental housing, childcare assistance, and maximum assistance limits.

Statement of Need:

FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program (IHP) regulations have not had a major review and update since section 206 of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 replaced the Individual and Family Grant Assistance Program with the current IHP. Some minor changes to Repair Assistance were completed in 2013, but Congress has passed multiple other laws that have superseded portions of the regulations and created other programs or forms of assistance with no supporting regulations. FEMA proposes an update to the IHP regulations now to bring them up to date and address other lessons learned through the course of implementing the IHP in disasters much larger than any previously addressed at the time the regulations were first developed.