FEMA revamp could make disaster relief harder to access, group warns

A proposed revamp of the Federal Emergency Management Agency would raise the bar for declaring major natural disasters, making federal relief harder to access, an advocacy group has warned.

In May, the FEMA Review Council — whose members were appointed by President Donald Trump — recommended sweeping changes to the nation’s primary disaster relief agency in a 75-page report. The proposals included cutting what it described as “bureaucratic bloat” and shifting more responsibility for disaster response away from federal officials and to state and local governments.

“At the end of the day, we know FEMA is broken and it needs to be fundamentally transformed,” former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who sits on the council, said last month.

However, a new report from the progressive advocacy group Sabotaging Our Safety argues the floated changes — many of which would require congressional approval — would significantly raise the threshold for presidential disaster declarations.

The threshold, known as the “per-capita indicator,” compares estimated disaster damage to a state’s population to determine whether it is severe enough to warrant federal assistance.

If the council’s proposed changes are enacted, the figure required to merit federal help would shift from $1.94 in damages per person to $2.99. Under that framework, 29 percent of the approvals between 2012 and 2025 would not qualify.

“There would be roughly 16 fewer major disaster declarations per year under the new threshold, meaning moderate-but-severe disasters would be absorbed entirely by states and counties without any federal assistance,” the report states.

Among the disasters that garnered federal assistance in recent years were Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Debby.

At the same time, disaster survivors would face fewer avenues for relief under the proposal, according to the group, which is advised by officials, organizers and labor leaders. The current system offers 15 categories of individual assistance, which cover medical costs, emergency housing, funeral expenses, vehicle repair and other needs. But the overhaul would consolidate them into a single capped payment — only accessible when a home is uninhabitable, while other forms of assistance would be slashed.

The Independent has reached out to FEMA and DHS for comment on the report.

Further, Sabotaging Our Safety cautioned that the proposed revamp could lead to higher insurance premiums for flood-zone households, putting coverage increasingly out of reach for low-income families.

Among the “most consequential” changes floated is the replacement of FEMA's Public Assistance program — which helps local and state governments pay for debris clean-up and infrastructure repair — with a one-time grant determined by a formula that relies on disaster metrics as opposed to “ real, material damage borne by communities.”

“The system would be managed entirely at the state level, meaning counties and local governments would have no direct federal recourse if the formula ends up paying far less than the actual cost of damages or if states distribute funds inequitably,” the report states.

When reached for comment by CBS News, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, said the council’s report constituted “an important milestone in this Administration's ongoing efforts to strengthen FEMA's mission, operations and accountability.”

“With Secretary [Markwayne Mullin] at the helm, we look forward to continuing to enhance our operations and engage with our state partners to best provide the federal support they need during disasters," the spokesperson added.

For years, Trump has proposed dismantling or radically overhauling FEMA, stating he wants to “wean” states off reliance on the federal government. His administration has also claimed that disaster response has been “bogged down by red tape, inefficiency, and a one-size-fits-all approach that left too many Americans waiting for help that came too late.”

FEMA spent an average of $12 billion each year on disaster relief between 1991 and 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Its funds are replenished annually by lawmakers, and it generally splits the cost of relief with affected states.