At a recent Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) briefing in Watertown, Conn., FEMA program specialists advise town and village officials, as well as businessmen and residents, on project eligibility and FEMA procedure. FEMA provides funding in the form of grants to States following federally-declared disasters. States make the grant funding available to local governments to implement long term hazard mitigation measures for the purpose of reducing or eliminating future damages. Individual property owners may apply through their local jurisdictions to receive funding under the HMGP program. Eligible projects are selected based on a benefit to cost ratio.
The State’s administrative plan governs how projects are selected for funding. However, proposed projects must meet certain minimum criteria. These criteria are designed to ensure that the most cost-effective and appropriate projects are selected for funding. Both the law and the regulations require that the projects are part of an overall mitigation strategy for that disaster area.