Disaster Recovery: Additional Actions Needed to Identify and Address Potential Recovery Barriers
Fast Facts
Some disaster survivors—specifically people living in low-income neighborhoods or rural isolated areas, people of color, and people with disabilities—have problems accessing disaster assistance programs and recovery resources.
We found that most federal recovery programs in our review did not collect or analyze demographic data from applicants to specifically identify potential access barriers that survivors face.
We recommended that disaster assistance agencies work together on a plan that specifies the data needed to help more equitably serve disaster survivors and create processes to routinely identify and address access barriers.
Aerial Photo of Wildfire Damage, Santa Rosa, California, October 11, 2017
Highlights
What GAO Found
Limited research exists on the relationship between disaster outcomes and the six federal recovery programs included in this GAO review: the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Individual Assistance and Public Assistance programs, National Flood Insurance Program, and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program; the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Disaster Loan program; and Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery. The design of the nine available studies did not allow GAO to draw conclusions about causal relationships between federal disaster recovery programs and overall recovery outcomes. Of the studies that were available, GAO grouped the findings into two categories: (1) socioeconomic outcomes and (2) community resilience outcomes. Our review of socioeconomic studies suggested that outcomes of disaster assistance for individual programs may be uneven across communities. This review also suggested that federal programs may enhance community resilience and prevent flood-related fatalities for vulnerable residents.
Limited research exists on the relationship between participation in select federal recovery programs and individual, community, and program characteristics. However, GAO found that some studies and stakeholder perspectives provided insight into the relationships between socioeconomic, demographic, community, and programmatic characteristics and participation. For example, a study of counties in one state found greater levels of flood mitigation in communities with larger tax revenues and larger budgets for emergency management. In addition, officials representing states said larger cities can hire a third party to manage disaster recovery, but small towns and rural areas may lack resources to contract for disaster recovery services. Similarly, an official representing tribal nations told GAO that not all tribal nations have sufficient funding to develop emergency management departments, which can be a barrier to accessing federal resources. Further, representatives from voluntary organizations told GAO that conditions of socioeconomic vulnerability—such as lower-income households or homelessness—may present barriers to participating in federal recovery programs.
Some of the six federal recovery programs in this report have taken some actions that could help officials identify and address potential access barriers and disparate outcomes. However, programs lack key information—data and analysis—that would allow them to examine patterns and indicators of potential access barriers and disparate recovery outcomes. Moreover, the programs have not taken action to determine (1) the universe of data needed to support this kind of analysis; and (2) sources and methods to obtain those data when the programs do not already collect them, including overcoming key challenges. These programs also lacked routine, interagency processes to address such barriers within or across recovery programs on an ongoing basis. Systematic efforts to collect and analyze data, and routine, interagency processes to address any identified access barriers or disparate outcomes, would help ensure equal opportunity to participate in disaster recovery in a meaningful way. Such actions would be consistent with the National Disaster Recovery Framework and recent governmentwide equity initiatives.
Why GAO Did This Study
Disasters affect numerous American communities and cause billions of dollars of damage. Many factors affect individual and community recovery. Recently, federal actions have focused on equitable administration of federal recovery assistance.
Members of Congress asked GAO to report on the impact of federal disaster recovery programs on various societal groups. This report addresses (1) research findings on recovery outcomes related to select federal programs, (2) research findings and recovery stakeholder perspectives on participation in select federal recovery programs, and (3) the extent to which federal disaster recovery agencies have taken actions to identify and address potential access barriers and disparate outcomes.
GAO conducted a literature review to summarize key research findings and interviewed state, tribal, and nonprofit recovery stakeholders to gain their perspectives. GAO analyzed program documentation and interviewed federal program officials from the six federal programs selected because of their historically large obligations for disaster recovery.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that FEMA, HUD, and SBA lead an interagency effort to develop (1) a plan to ensure use of comprehensive information and (2) processes to identify and address access barriers and disparate outcomes. FEMA and SBA concurred. HUD did not agree or disagree with the recommendations, but officials stated they would work with federal recovery partners on these issues.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
Priority Rec.
The FEMA Administrator should, in coordination with the SBA Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Assistance and the HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, develop, with input from key recovery partners, and implement an interagency plan to help ensure the availability and use of quality information that includes (1) information requirements, (2) data sources and methods, and (3) strategies for overcoming information challenges—to support federal agencies involved in disaster recovery in identifying access barriers or disparate outcomes. (Recommendation 1) |
In August 2024, FEMA officials told us that FEMA, together with HUD and SBA, are developing an interagency plan for data collection, sharing, and analysis to identify potential equity issues. According to FEMA, this interagency plan will be developed by December 2024. They also noted that in November 2023, FEMA completed Privacy Threshold Analyses needed for FEMA to share certain aggregate applicant data with HUD and SBA to help all 3 agencies identify potential access barriers. However, to fully address the recommendation and ensure the availability and use of quality information needed to identify access barriers and disparate outcomes, FEMA (with HUD and SBA) will need to both develop and implement this interagency plan specifying the data needed, the sources of those data, and the methods for obtaining those data. Without implementing a plan to ensure the availability of comprehensive information, programs lack a means to identify potential social and institutional barriers in their own programs and across programs.
|
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
Priority Rec.
The FEMA Administrator should coordinate with the SBA Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Assistance and the HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development to design and establish routine processes to be used within and across federal disaster recovery programs to address identified access barriers and disparate outcomes on an ongoing basis. (Recommendation 2) |
In August 2024, FEMA officials told us that FEMA, together with HUD and SBA, are developing an interagency plan that includes a description of routine processes that they will use to address any equity issues they identify. According to FEMA, this interagency plan will be developed by December 2024. For its part, FEMA officials stated that they anticipate addressing the identified access barriers through targeted capacity-building support, including: training, peer-to-peer network development, recovery planning, and technical assistance support to low-capacity, highly impacted local and tribal governments with high vulnerability indicators to position these governments to better manage recovery efforts. However, to fully address the recommendation, FEMA (with HUD and SBA) must also implement institutionalized processes to be used within and across federal recovery programs to address identified access barriers and disparate outcomes on an ongoing basis. Without routine processes, disaster recovery programs lack a mechanism to ensure they can address any potential access barriers or disparate outcomes they might identify, particularly if the cause of those barriers or outcomes arise from the interaction between or among programs.
|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Priority Rec.
The HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development should, in coordination with the FEMA Administrator and SBA, develop, with input from key recovery partners, and implement an interagency plan to help ensure the availability and use of quality information that includes (1) information requirements, (2) data sources and methods, and (3) strategies for overcoming information challenges—to support federal agencies involved in disaster recovery in identifying access barriers or disparate outcomes. (Recommendation 3) |
In July 2024, HUD officials told us that HUD, together with FEMA and SBA, are developing an interagency plan for data collection, sharing, and analysis to identify potential equity issues. According to FEMA officials, this interagency plan will be developed by December 2024. In the interim, HUD officials noted their plans to expand data collection about applicants and beneficiaries, starting with groups protected under the Fair Housing Act and subsequently other vulnerable populations. They further noted that in spring 2024 HUD plans to enter into an interagency agreement with FEMA to coordinate data sharing. These efforts may improve HUD's access to information needed to help identify access barriers and disparate outcomes. However, to address the recommendation and ensure the availability and use of quality information for these purposes, HUD (with FEMA and SBA) will need to both develop and implement this interagency plan specifying the data needed, sources of those data, and methods for obtaining those data. Without implementing a plan to ensure the availability of comprehensive information, programs lack a means to identify potential social and institutional barriers in their own programs and across programs.
|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Priority Rec.
The HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development should coordinate with the FEMA Administrator and SBA to design and establish routine processes to be used within and across federal disaster recovery programs to address identified access barriers and disparate outcomes on an ongoing basis. (Recommendation 4) |
In July 2024, HUD officials told us that HUD, together with FEMA and SBA, is developing an interagency plan that includes a description of routine processes that they will use to address any equity issues they identify. According to FEMA officials, this interagency plan will be developed by December 2024. For its part, HUD established an Equity Team within its Office of Disaster Recovery to expand data collection, evaluate CDBG-DR implementation processes and identify improvements, provide technical assistance to CDBG-DR grantees, and evaluate quarterly performance reports, according to HUD officials. However, to fully implement this recommendation, HUD must provide evidence it has designed and institutionalized routine processes to be used within and across federal recovery programs to address identified access barriers and disparate outcomes on an ongoing basis. Without routine processes, these programs will lack a mechanism to ensure they can address any potential access barriers or disparate outcomes they might identify, particularly if those barriers or disparate outcomes arise from the interaction between or among programs.
|
| Small Business Administration |
Priority Rec.
The SBA Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Assistance should, in coordination with the FEMA Administrator and the HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, develop, with input from key recovery partners, and implement an interagency plan to help ensure the availability and use of quality information that includes (1) information requirements, (2) data sources and methods, and (3) strategies for overcoming information challenges—to support federal agencies involved in disaster recovery in identifying access barriers or disparate outcomes. (Recommendation 5) |
In February 2024, SBA officials told us that SBA, together with FEMA and HUD, is developing an interagency plan for data collection, sharing, and analysis to identify potential equity issues. According to FEMA officials, this interagency plan will be developed by December 2024. SBA officials also noted that they are renewing interagency agreements with FEMA and HUD to coordinate data sharing. However, to fully address the recommendation, SBA (with FEMA and HUD) would need to both develop and implement this interagency plan specifying the data needed, and sources and methods for obtaining the data. Without implementing a plan to ensure the availability of comprehensive information, programs lack a means to identify potential social and institutional barriers in their own programs and across programs.
|
| Small Business Administration |
Priority Rec.
The SBA Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Assistance should coordinate with the FEMA Administrator and the HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development to design and establish routine processes to be used within and across federal recovery programs to address identified access barriers and disparate outcomes on an ongoing basis. (Recommendation 6) |
In February 2024, SBA officials told us that SBA, together with FEMA and HUD, is developing an interagency plan that includes a description of routine processes that they will use to address any equity issues they identify. According to FEMA officials, this interagency plan will be developed by December 2024. For its part, SBA officials told us that to help reduce access barriers in rural communities, they implemented the Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act in June 2023, which simplified the process for SBA disaster declaration in rural communities. SBA officials also told us that they established Portable Loan Outreach Centers to enable recovery teams to deploy to low-capacity theaters of operation after a disaster. However, to fully implement this recommendation, SBA needs to provide evidence it has designed and institutionalized routine processes within and across federal recovery programs to address identified access barriers and disparate outcomes on an ongoing basis. Without routine processes, disaster recovery programs lack a mechanism to ensure they can address any potential access barriers or disparate outcomes they might identify, particularly if those barriers or disparate outcomes arise from the interaction between or among programs.
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