The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not fully implemented the State-Administered Direct Housing Grant Program mandated by Section 1211(a) of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA), according to a recently published report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The report, dated March 2024, highlights significant delays and shortcomings in FEMA’s efforts to establish and execute the program.
The OIG report reveals that FEMA has yet to issue the final regulations required to fully implement the State-Administered Direct Housing Grant Program. The report attributes this delay to unspecified internal issues within FEMA, which have hindered the agency’s progress.
Furthermore, the report criticizes FEMA’s implementation of a pilot program authorized by the DRRA. This pilot program was intended to run for up to two years until the final regulations were in place. However, during this period, FEMA only issued one grant award, which was narrowly focused and did not permit the recipient state to administer direct housing assistance on FEMA’s behalf. The report attributes this failure to FEMA’s delay in issuing guidance for the pilot program, which left only 10 weeks for its implementation before the authorization expired. Consequently, FEMA missed critical opportunities for state, territorial, and tribal (STT) governments to develop and implement disaster housing solutions tailored to their communities’ needs.
The report also highlights significant communication failures between FEMA and Congress. FEMA did not submit a required report to Congress outlining incentives to encourage STT participation in the program until three years after the mandated deadline. FEMA cited extensive review procedures and competing priorities as the reasons for this delay. Additionally, FEMA has not provided the required quarterly briefings to the Appropriations Committees in Congress regarding the status of DRRA implementation efforts. FEMA attributed these lapses to staffing challenges and scheduling conflicts. As a result, Congress has been left in the dark about FEMA’s progress and the challenges it faces in implementing the State-Administered Direct Housing Grant Program.
The OIG report underscores the need for FEMA to address these issues promptly to ensure effective disaster housing solutions are available to meet the needs of communities affected by disasters. The lack of timely implementation and communication has hindered the program’s potential to empower STT governments in disaster recovery efforts.