Flood Mitigation Assistance FY 2020 Subapplication Status

FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs provide funding to protect life and property from future natural disasters. The Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant program assists states, tribal, territorial and local governments reduce or eliminate claims under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

FMA-funded grants will continue to reduce or eliminate claims under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) with a focus on mitigating Severe Repetitive Loss and Repetitive Loss properties as well as projects that will reduce the risk profile in communities through mitigation of the largest number of NFIP-insured properties on a neighborhood level.

On July 1, 2021, FEMA announced the selections of subapplications for the $700 million available in Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 2020) BRIC and FMA grant funding. This includes 38 tribes that have been selected for planning, project and management costs totaling $26.1 million total project costs.

The BRIC FY 2020 application period opened on Sept. 30, 2020, and closed on Jan. 29, 2021. Eligible applicants applied using the new FEMA Grants Outcome (FEMA GO), which is now the grant management system for FMA and BRIC.

This announcement is not an award; it’s a decision on the status of all subapplications

FEMA reviewed each subapplication to ensure eligibility and minimum program requirements were met. BRIC competitive subapplications then went through a two-part scoring process.  In addition, a National Technical Review (NTR) team reviewed all eligible project subapplications for cost-effectiveness and engineering feasibility for FMA and the top ranked $1 billion federal share requested for BRIC. (Note: All eligible projects must also go through an Environmental and Historic Preservation review.)

Based upon its review, FEMA has placed each subapplicant in one of three categories: Identified for Further Review, Not Selected, or Did Not Meet Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Requirements. FEMA will work with applicants selected for “Further Review” to conduct programmatic reviews of the selected subapplications before making a final decision for funding. While FEMA has announced the selections of subapplications for FY 2020, the actual awards are anticipated to be made in the FEMA Grants Outcomes (FEMA GO) system beginning in December 2021.

For additional information or to ask questions, grant applicants should contact their FEMA regional office.

FEMA received 1,227 subapplications that requested an estimated $4 billion in funding across the BRIC and FMA grant programs. 

91 applicants, including 38 Tribes have subapplications that are selected for further review.

• FEMA received 236 subapplications for FMA funding, of which 117 have been selected for further review.
• For FY 2020, the number of projects selected total the nearly $200 million that was made available for funding with total project costs exceeding $477 million.

• Seven different states and territories submitted projects with a federal share of $10 million or more.
• Two states submitted projects with over $200 million federal share combined: Texas and Louisiana
• 26 states did not submit FMA subapplications.

States, territories, and tribes submitted requests for the use of FMA that includes Project Scoping, Community Flood Mitigation Projects, Technical Assistance, Flood Hazard Mitigation Planning, Individual Flood Mitigation Projects, and Management Costs.

Uses of FMA	Number of Subapplications Selected	Total Amount of Project Costs
Individual Property Mitigation Projects	56	$152.6 million
Community Flood Mitigation	10	$57.8 million
Project Scoping	22	$5.2 million
Technical Assistance/Flood Hazard Planning	9	$634,999
Management Costs	20	$23.6 million

Project Types Summary

There are various types of projects eligible for FMA funding. The lists below reflect the project types selected by Total Project Cost and Number of Subapplications that do not include Management Costs.

Top Five Project Types by Total Project Cost

1. Flood Control = $187.7 million
2. Elevation = $159.3 million
3. Acquisitions = $75.2 million
4. Relocation = $11.8 million
5. Mitigation Reconstruction = $8.3 million

Top Five Project Types by Number of Subapplications

1. Elevations = 30 subapplications
2. Acquisitions = 21 subapplications
3. Engineering, Environmental, Feasibility, and/or Benefit-Cost Analysis = 13 subapplications
4. Flood Control = 10 subapplications
5. Mitigation Reconstruction = 5 subapplications

• The Community Flood Mitigation priority allocated $70 million for design and implementation of flood mitigation projects that integrate localized cost-effective floodplain restoration solutions that benefit communities with high participation and favorable standing in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
  • Of the $70 million, FEMA prioritizes up to $4 million for Project Scoping, which can be used to develop mitigation strategies and obtain data to prioritize, select, and develop community flood hazard project for future funding.
• Projects included in the 117 selected projects are 22 Project Scoping totaling $3,931,756 federal share and 10 Community Flood Mitigation Projects totaling $43,468,904 federal share.
  • Examples of Community Flood Mitigation projects include localized flood control, floodwater storage and diversion, floodplain and stream restoration, and wetland restoration or creation.  
• FEMA has selected a project that will provide for enhancement of natural marshlands to mitigate flooding with a federal share of approximately $15 million. The project will impact nearly 500 repetitively flood damaged properties and will provide persistent protection from future flooding events.
• In keeping with our commitment to incorporate equity measures into our Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant programs, FEMA leveraged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) tool for FY 2020 submissions and selections to measure the social vulnerability of communities. Of the projects selected, .47 was the average CDC SVI score which indicates a low to moderate level of vulnerability.
• Of the 236 applications received, 49 eligible projects totaling $70 million were not selected due to the lack of available FMA funding, which demonstrates how the FMA program is oversubscribed. 
  • Since 2016, FMA has been appropriated $175 million per year and FEMA estimates it would need $500 million annually to effectively mitigate the year-over-year growth of Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) and Repetitive Loss (RL) insured properties. In addition, FEMA estimates it would cost approximately $7B to mitigate approximately 28,000 SRL/RL NFIP-insured properties.
• Under the FMA grant program, FEMA will fund flood hazard mitigation planning as well as technical assistance for states and territories who were awarded funds totaling at least $1 million in the prior fiscal year.

The below table lists the submitted planning and project subapplications and the status of each alphabetically by applicant.

Most of the Flood Mitigation Assistance funding goes towards elevation, acquisitions, and mitigation reconstruction of repetitively flood-damaged buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Learn about the definition of each status description:

• Identified for Further Review
• Not Selected
• Did Not Meet HMA Requirements