FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Year in Review

FEMA has published a Year in Review report for its Hazard Mitigation Assistance Division, covering efforts to reduce nationwide vulnerability to disasters and natural hazards through several grant programs.

The Year in Review notes that in 2021 more than $2.34 billion in Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grants and Public Assistance (PA) Mitigation funds were delivered to states, local communities, and other jurisdictions. The report breaks down the funds awarded to HMA grants and PA Mitigation funds by program, which include Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA), and Public Assistance Mitigation and Community Infrastructure Resilience (PDM), among others. The report’s descriptions of these programs shows that for many infrastructure entities are eligible to apply. Case studies included for some of them also demonstrate the projects the grants have helped to fund. The report also emphasizes aspects of projects that FEMA seeks to satisfy with the programs and grants, including that they reduce risk, promote equity, build capacity, and foster connections. In its discussion of equity, the report highlights FEMA’s goals of providing focused assistance to underserved communities and simplifying the mitigation assistance process. It also discusses determining the benefits of a mitigation project compared to its cost, a process facilitated and made easier by the Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) toolkit. Read the report at FEMA.