What are some additional key resources I could read to learn more?
- APA Briefing Paper: Planning Resilience Infrastructure
- APA Briefing Paper: Green Infrastructure
- APA - Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction
- APA Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery: Next Generation
- Colorado Resiliency Framework Planning for Hazards Guide for Colorado
- Disaster Recovery Framework & Recovery Support Function Template and Guide
- FEMA Community Disaster Recovery Planning Course, Recovery Coordination
- FEMA - Disaster Assistance: A Guide to Recovery Programs
- FEMA Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide
- FEMA Individual Assistance Program and Policy Guide
Tell me more about Long-Term Community Recovery (LTCR) planning.
Long-Term Community Recovery (LTCR) planning occurs after a disaster where specific projects and needs can be identified. "Long-term" refers to the need to re-establish a healthy, functioning community that will sustain itself over time. Examples of long-term community recovery actions include:
- Assessing disaster specific impacts and needs.
- Aligning recovery strategies with community values and priorities.
- Providing permanent disaster-resistant housing units to replace those destroyed.
- Initiating a low-interest facade loan program for downtown areas that sustained damage from the disaster (and thus encouraging other improvements that revitalize downtown).
- Initiating a buy-out of flood-prone properties and designating them community open space.
- Widening bridges or roadways that improve residents' access and evacuation routes.
- Identifying long-term resilience opportunities.
LTCR is the process of establishing a community-based, post-disaster vision and identifying projects (and project funding strategies) best suited to achieve those projects. Each community's LTCR program is shaped by the community itself, the damage sustained, the issues identified, and the community's post-disaster vision for the future. The LTCR process has been successful in bringing communities together to focus on their long-term recovery issues. The plan should incorporate the post-disaster community vision and identify projects that are aimed at achieving that vision. When conducting LTCR planning, it is important to identify and include information specific to frontline communities. Long-term community recovery provides an opportunity to put a community back together in an improved and more resilient way.
How do I assess the recovery value of my LTCR projects?
Criteria for assessing the recovery value of your LTCR projects are:
- Post-Disaster Community Need: Community need varies depending upon the magnitude of the event and the impact of damages affecting your community. Community need projects are those that satisfy a previously identified need, leverage other projects or funding sources, or have broad community support.
- Project Feasibility: Can the project be achieved with available resources, within regulatory and logistical constraints, and within a realistic time frame? Does it have sufficient community support to get off the ground?
- Project Sustainability: Sustainable development projects are those that can help prevent acts of nature from becoming disasters. Sustainable development implies not only disaster-resistance, such as relocating a structure or restricting new construction in particularly vulnerable areas, but also resource efficiency, or the prudent use of energy, water, and natural resources to ensure healthy communities for future generations to come.
- Crosscutting Benefits: A project's overall cross-cutting benefit is measured based on its
- Economic Impact: Projects with significant economic impact can be defined as those that create jobs, reestablish critical infrastructure that allows the economy to function, and provide new economic opportunities for future generations.
- High Visibility and Increase of Community Capacity: Ensuring a visible and measured process of long-term community recovery can have a significant impact on personal courage and community spirit during a time of extreme stress and uncertainty.
- Linkages Throughout the Community and Leverages Other Projects & Funding: If you develop a series of supportive projects, linked to other segments within the community you will have a greater impact on recovery than an individual or stand-alone project.
- Enhancements to Quality of Life in the Community: Projects that improve the quality of life can have a direct impact on the decisions that businesses and people make regarding relocation.
If there is a Presidential major disaster declaration, what are FEMA’s two primary disaster assistance programs?
- Individual Assistance - for Presidentially declared major disasters, provides financial assistance and direct services to eligible individuals and households who have uninsured or underinsured necessary expenses and serious needs. IHP Assistance is not a substitute for insurance and cannot compensate for all losses caused by a disaster; it is intended to meet basic needs and supplement disaster recovery efforts. IHP Assistance is not considered income or a resource when determining eligibility for welfare, income assistance, or income-tested benefit programs that the Federal government funds, such as Social Security benefits or disability income. IHP Assistance is also exempt from garnishment or seizure, but this exception does not apply to assistance recovered by FEMA after being received in error or fraud.
- Public Assistance -for Presidentially declared major disaster, provides assistance to State, local, Territorial, or Tribal (SLTT) governments, and certain types of private nonprofit (PNP) organizations so that communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies declared by the President. Through the PA Program, FEMA provides supplemental Federal grant assistance for debris removal, emergency protective measures, and the restoration of disaster-damaged, publicly owned facilities and specific facilities of certain PNP organizations. The PA Program also encourages the protection of these damaged facilities from future incidents by assisting with hazard mitigation measures. FEMA provides this assistance based on authority in statutes, executive orders (EOs), regulations, and policies.
If there is a Presidential major disaster declaration, who is eligible for a Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan?
SBA Disaster Loans - in Presidentially declared disaster areas, businesses of all sizes located, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners, and renters affected by declared disaster, including civil unrest and natural disasters such as hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, etc. are eligible for an SBA disaster loan. These loans can be used to cover losses not covered by insurance or funding from FEMA for both personal losses (i.e. rebuild a private residence) and business losses (i.e. property damage or destruction). Business operating expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred are also eligible uses of an SBA Loan.
What are FEMA’s four major hazard mitigation funding programs?
- Section 404 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and Section 406 Hazard Mitigation Program associated with the FEMA public assistance program
- Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) will support states, local communities, tribes, and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects, reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards. BRIC is a new FEMA pre-disaster hazard mitigation program that replaces the existing Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program.
- Flood Mitigation Assistance (FEMA)
- National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
What are common priorities for a recovery plan?
- Public safety and security
- Critical infrastructure
- Critical community services and facilities
- Economic stability
- Maintaining government services
- Social well-being
- Protecting property and the environment
What types of hazard mitigation projects can FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Fund (HMGP) fund?
- Acquisition of hazard-prone homes and businesses
- Protecting homes and businesses with permanent barriers to prevent from entering (levees, floodwalls, floodproofing)
- Elevating structures above-known flood levels (elevation)
- Reconstructing a damaged dwelling on an elevated foundation
- Structural retrofits to make a building more resistant
- Retrofits to utilities and other infrastructure
- Construction of safe rooms
- Slope stabilization projects
- Drainage improvement projects
- Post-disaster code enforcement
- Developing and adopting hazard mitigation plans
What are some examples of project ratings developed by FEMA?
These are defined in FEMA's Long-Term Community Recovery Planning Process:
High Recovery Value Project - Those projects assigned a high recovery value are catalyst projects that serve as important building blocks for recovery. Typically, a High Recovery Value project will:
- Fill a post-disaster community need
- Provide leveraging and create linkages for other projects and funding
- Be related to the physical damage from the disaster
- Encourage private investment
- Have strong community support
- Have access to the resources needed to carry out the project
- Be realistic in its outcome - is achievable
- Avert future losses
- Use resources efficiently
- Have community-wide impact
Moderate Recovery Value Project - Those projects assigned a moderate recovery value are projects that can be expected to have a clear and positive impact on recovery, but by their nature are limited in scope, span, impact, or benefits to less than community-wide significance and/or support. A moderate recovery value project also will typically be related to the physical damage from the disaster.
Low Recovery Value Project - Low Recovery Value projects either do not have a direct link to the disaster and its damages, lack public support, and/or provide few if any, identifiable benefits to the community related to disaster recovery. In many cases, a low recovery value project will fall far short of the resources needed to carry out the project, may generate questions regarding its achievability, and may only impact a small portion of the community. Community support for a project that has a low recovery value may have support from a portion of the community but lack general community support.
Community Interest Project - A Community Interest project may be extremely important to a community even though it does not have a significant recovery value. An example of a Community Interest Project might be a new community library structure even though the existing, inadequate structure was not damaged in the disaster. Plans for a new library may have been in place for some time, but the initiative and/or the resources did not come together. The disaster may create an opportunity to move the project forward. The project has significant support in the community and will replace an outmoded facility, but it contributes little to the community's recovery from the disaster.
What is HMGP?
HMGP assists communities in rebuilding in a better, stronger, and safer way to become more resilient overall. The HMGP can fund a wide variety of mitigation projects. These can include:
- The acquisition of hazard-prone homes and businesses enables owners to relocate to safer areas (acquisition).
- Protecting homes and businesses with permanent barriers to prevent floodwater from entering (levees, floodwalls, floodproofing).
- Elevating structures above known flood levels to prevent and reduce losses (elevation).
- Reconstructing a damaged dwelling on an elevated foundation to prevent and reduce future flood losses.
- Structural retrofits make a building more resistant to floods, earthquakes, wind, wildfire, and other natural hazards.
- Retrofits to utilities and other infrastructure to enhance resistance to natural hazards (utility retrofits).
- Construction of safe rooms for both communities and individual residences in areas prone to tornado activity.
- Slope stabilization projects to prevent and reduce losses to structures.
- Drainage improvement projects to reduce flooding (flood risk reduction projects).
- Post-disaster code enforcement.
- Developing and adopting hazard mitigation plans, which are required for state, local, tribal and territorial governments to receive funding for their hazard mitigation projects.
Any tips on developing a Funding Package?
In the end, each project consists of various elements that create a complete package. Preparing a funding package consists of three important steps as suggested by FEMA's Long-Term Community Recovery Planning Process.
- The community must look at the project and its scale and scope to determine how the project could be logically divided into phases. While it should not be the intent to develop a project that requires phasing, a community needs to look at a project from this perspective. This approach will allow the flexibility to develop portions of projects where total funding or resources may not yet exist or be available.
- You must look internally to determine if any funds are available through existing revenue streams or new or potential sources of local revenue. This second step is crucial - as it ensures the community is committed to investing in its project. This step also demonstrates to outside agencies that the community is willing to become a primary stakeholder in the redevelopment and recovery process.
- Finally, a community should evaluate the funding programs and resources available at the regional, state, and federal levels that will allow the leveraging of local funds to complete a given project. Focus on existing or standard state and federal programs as your first choice. Don't rely on special appropriations from state or federal agencies that may or may not come to fruition. These resources may not always consist of actual cash investment. In reality, there are numerous opportunities where in-kind services or technical assistance may provide a comparable level of support.
Great job!
You have completed step 5.