Requested Funding is Nearly Double the Amount Available
FEMA has received 13 complete applications from entities requesting more than $271 million–almost double what is available–to fund eligible projects through a program providing capitalization grants to eligible applicants nationwide.
The requests follow the agency’s December 2023 announcement making $150 million available for the Safeguarding Tomorrow through On-going Risk Mitigation Revolving Loan Fund grant program’s second funding opportunity. The application period closed in April and aligned with the 2024 FEMA Year of Resilience theme to build capacity that can withstand tomorrow’s hazards.
The 13 applicants—including one Tribal Nation—come from seven out of ten FEMA regions, and included areas affected by various types of disasters such as tornadoes, flooding, drought and extreme heat.
Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the program enables applicants to offer low-interest loans directly to local communities to reduce their vulnerability to disasters, promote equity, foster greater community resilience and reduce disaster impacts.
FEMA expects to announce the selections for this funding opportunity later this year. The oversubscription for this program demonstrates the growing need to make the nation more resilient to climate threats that are increasing in frequency and severity.
To date, FEMA has offered $200 million in funding for capitalization grants for the Safeguarding Tomorrow RLF program, while entities have requested a total of $453 million in federal funding for these opportunities.
In September 2023, FEMA announced selections for the first funding opportunity totaling $50 million.
The Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund is part of FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistanceportfolio of programs. These grant programs help communities increase resilience to extreme heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods, and hurricanes by funding transformational projects that reduce risk to multiple hazards, support adaptation to future conditions, and reduce the impact of all disasters on our nation’s most at-risk, underserved and disadvantaged communities.
Applicants eligible to receive revolving loan capitalization grants include states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal Nations that have received a major disaster declaration. Local governments may use these low-interest loans provided by these entities for projects and activities to reduce the effects of drought, intense heat, hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, wildfires, floods, earthquakes and other natural hazards – including the many fueled by climate change.
Additional eligible project types under this program include activities that mitigate the impact of natural hazards, zoning and land use planning changes, and adoption and enforcement of modern building codes. Loans may also be used by local governments to satisfy a local government’s non-federal cost-share requirement for other FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant programs.
Of the nearly $7 billion available in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to FEMA announced in 2021, $500 million is invested in the Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund program over five years to reduce disaster suffering and avoid future disaster costs. In addition, there are four additional FEMA mitigation and cyber security programs to receive multi-year Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.