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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 in the Program, FEMA proposes to amend application of ‘safe, sanitary, and functional’ for the Individuals and Households Program (IHP) Home Repair assistance; re-evaluate the requirement to apply for a Small Business Administration loan prior to receipt of certain types of Other Needs Assistance (ONA); 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, child care assistance, maximum assistance limits, and waiver authority. Finally, FEMA proposes allowing self-employed individuals to receive assistance for essential tools under ONA, allowing certain home repair accessibility-related items, and allowing the reopening of the registration period when the President adds new counties to the major disaster declaration.

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 Some minor changes to Repair Assistance were completed in 2013, but Congress has passed multiple other laws that have superseded portions of the regulations and created other programs or forms of assistance with no supporting regulations.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.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

FEMA estimates that this rulemaking would result in an increase in transfer payments from FEMA and States in the form of disaster assistance to individuals and households. It would also result in additional costs to States for familiarization of the rule and to FEMA and applicants for paperwork burden. The proposed rule would ensure disaster assistance is more equitably distributed and assist applicants to more quickly and fully recover from disasters by expanding eligibility for, and access to, certain types of assistance. Lastly, the rulemaking would improve clarity and align FEMA regulations with statutory changes improving the efficiency and the consistency of IHP assistance.