Following the signing into law of the continuing resolution passed on September 30, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will resume funding for more than 2,400 projects across the country. The agency has lifted Immediate Needs Funding (INF) restrictions that had impeded the allocation of $3 billion for states to rebuild from recent disasters. Likewise, the $16 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund requested by the NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) in mid-August can now be used for long-term rebuilding projects.
FEMA had halted funding for long-term projects on August 29 due to budget constraints. INF restrictions limited spending to emergency items such as temporary shelters and road clearing immediately after a disaster. This was the first time FEMA had imposed “immediate needs funding” restrictions since 2017. Meanwhile, FEMA was forced to withhold funding for 2,400 nonemergency projects, including the repair and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.
The $16 billion allocated to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund was part of a temporary spending package approved by Congress just a day before fiscal year 2023 wrapped up. This special allocation was passed to enable FEMA to continue operating in full. By this point, the agency’s disaster fund had dwindled to about $2 billion.
The DHRC celebrates the provision of disaster assistance in the Continuing Resolution and continues to call on congressional leadership to permanently authorize HUD’s long-term disaster recovery program by including the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” in the future spending bill.
Read the letter submitted in August by the DHRC here.