New federal FEMA disaster rules aim to cut red tape

WASHINGTON — Anyone who has lived through a natural disaster and then applied to the federal government for assistance knows that it can be a lengthy, frustrating and bureaucratic process. New rules announced Friday by the federal agency in charge of emergency management aim to simplify and speed up the process.

With natural disasters now affecting more people across the United States, insurance markets in many states are buckling under the weight of payouts to those hit by wildfires and hurricanes.

Deanne Criswell, who heads the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the changes, going into effect in March, are designed to make it easier for disaster survivors to get help — a challenge for those often struggling to recover from the worst day of their lives.

“Mother Nature is not letting up,” Criswell said to reporters on a call announcing the changes. “We need to be better prepared and better informed to recover from natural disasters faster and more effectively.”

Here are some of the changes outlined by FEMA:

Help for homeowners with not enough insurance

Under previous rules, homeowners who had received payments from their insurance company for home repairs but not enough to cover all of the damage were essentially out of luck when it came to getting help from FEMA. Now those homeowners can apply to FEMA for help. Criswell gave an example of a homeowner who has $80,000 in damage but receives only $45,000 from the insurance company. Previously, FEMA couldn’t help them because their insurance payout already exceeded the agency’s assistance cap of $42,500 per disaster. Now, that homeowner can get money from the agency to make up the difference.

Samantha L. Montano, an assistant professor of emergency management at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, called this change a “pretty massive internal shift” and questioned why it hadn’t been done before.

Getting rid of the loan rule

Under previous rules, disaster survivors first had to apply for a loan with the Small Business Administration and get rejected before they could apply for FEMA assistance.

Changes to critical needs assistance

The agency has had something called critical needs assistance, currently $750, that survivors can use for whatever they need right after a disaster: baby formula or food, for example. But states or tribal nations had to specifically request that category of assistance, and it was only done on a case-bycase basis.

Now, anytime a disaster is declared that includes FEMA’S individual assistance funding stream, those $750 payments will be available. Survivors still have to apply, and there is some vetting to prevent fraud.

But it bypasses the application that states and tribal nations had to make. That doesn’t mean that every disaster will include these payments. Many declared disasters are more limited in scope.

Other changes

Disaster survivors with disabilities can use FEMA money to make changes to their homes to make them more accessible, whereas under previous rules the agency would only pay to rebuild things that had been damaged in the disaster. People with pre-existing problems in their home, like a leaky roof, can now get money from the agency to fix the house.

And FEMA is creating a new category of aid called displacement assistance, designed to help those who can’t return to their home. It gives them money for housing while they’re looking for a long-term rental and has flexibility so that they can, for example, use the money to pay a friend’s utilities if they’re crashing on a couch.