House Disaster Equity and Building Resilience Caucus Holds Briefing with Former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell

By Meghan Mertyris, NLIHC Disaster Housing Recovery Analyst 

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security Democrats and Co-Chairs of the Disaster Equity and Building Resilience Caucus held a briefing, “Facing Elimination: A Conversation on the Value of FEMA,” on June 26. The primary witness was former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. The briefing outlined the critical role FEMA plays in ensuring that the federal government provides the resources and funding necessary for communities to stay safe before, during, and after a disaster.  

With an eye toward the future, the Committee discussed reforms the agency must implement if it wants to effectively serve all disaster survivors, including those with the lowest incomes and from the most marginalized groups. Further, it examined current threats, including lack of formal leadership, loss of institutional knowledge, and funding cuts, posed to the agency.  

The briefing kicked off with Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) reminding the nation why the U.S. originally created FEMA. “FEMA came about because there was a need for someone to be there when all other resources, state and local, have failed,” Thomson said. In 1970 and then again in 1974, elected officials from both sides of the aisle came together to affirm the federal government’s role in creating a streamlined and effective disaster recovery system when they passed the “Disaster Relief Act.” 

Since then, FEMA has continuously provided crucial assistance to states and communities before, during, and after disasters that they cannot replace on their own. Support from the agency is crucial to the function of state and local emergency management agencies, assisting in disaster response coordination and aiding communities in rebuilding resiliently after disasters. 

While the country’s disaster response and recovery system is broken and in need of major reform, the dismantling of FEMA and its ability to respond to disasters address none of these issues. Dismantling FEMA will not make communities safer, and most certainly will not increase access to disaster recovery resources. Instead, “we should be talking about how to strengthen FEMA and put more resources there” said Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV), “and make it move faster and do better with states as opposed to justifying why it should even exist.” 

During disasters, we all want to do what we can to help our fellow community members, and this includes making sure they have access to the resources they need to recover from an incident they had no hand in creating. “I have seen firsthand how disaster recovery intersects with the values that we all share,” said Criswell, “protecting the most vulnerable, building resilience from the ground up, and making sure the government works for the people and not the other way around.”  

NLIHC facilitates the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC), a group of over 900 local, state, and national organizations, that works to ensure federal disaster recovery efforts reach those most impacted by disasters, including households with the lowest incomes and those who are most marginalized.  

Take action to protect disaster programs, staff, and funding here. 

View a recording of the briefing here.