What to know about FEMA’s hazard mitigation under the Individuals and Households Program

To help make communities stronger and more resilient, FEMA will now provide additional disaster mitigation home repair assistance under the Individuals and Households Program. For disasters declared on or before May 26, 2021, individuals and households with impacts to their disaster-damaged roof, water heater, furnace, and/or electrical panel may be eligible for additional funds to make these elements of their homes more resilient under disasters. This programmatic change is just in time for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. 

CohnReznick has the following recommendations organized by entity:

• Construction contractors:
  • Understand the FEMA and local building requirements for eligible individual assistance (IA)   mitigation activities
  • Include estimates for eligible IA mitigation activities when providing housing repair estimates in a declared disaster area
• Local Jurisdictions:
  • Coordinate with floodplain management and utility companies to identify and communicate requirements for their geographic area
  • Evaluate and increase capacity to process building permits and inspections post-disaster
• State Government:
  • Develop and/or enhance processes to evaluate and address potential duplication of benefits (DOB) and/or programs to ensure continued grant compliance with CDBG-DR, CDBG-MIT, FMA, HMGP, and BRIC
• FEMA:
  • Identify metrics that will be used to evaluate the impact of the program change and update reporting to identify the number of IA mitigation awards and related amounts 
  • Develop integrity monitoring processes to avoid fraud, waste, and abuse 
  • Revise award letters to identify the amount(s) intended for separate award elements (e.g., rental assistance, housing assistance, roof mitigation, etc.) to support tracking of DOB