The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking comments on a proposed rule to update FEMA’s Public Assistance regulations. The Public Assistance program provides financial assistance to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, and some private nonprofit organizations, so communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies.

The program provides assistance for the urgent responses that are needed right before or after a disaster, as well as long-term recovery assistance that can take place years later. The program can help with funding for emergency assistance, debris removal, emergency protective measures, and the restoration of disaster-damaged facilities.

To qualify for this funding, an entity must be an eligible “facility.” Aging and disability stakeholders have previously shared barriers faced in accessing Public Assistance funding because of the definition of “facility” and concerns that it does not reflect the fact that the majority of people with disabilities and older adults now live in the community and receive services through entities like centers for independent living and area agencies on aging instead of in an institution, care facility, or congregate facility.

As a result, FEMA is seeking feedback from stakeholders about the definition of “private nonprofit facility” and is looking for comment on “whether its definition of ‘private nonprofit facility’ is sufficiently broad to encompass all private nonprofit organizations providing service to older adults and persons with disabilities that are eligible to receive public assistance under the Stafford Act.”

Please direct any questions to fema-recovery-pa-policy@fema.dhs.gov, and please direct any feedback to LeadingAge’s Director of Medicaid Policy Georgia Goodman (ggoodman@leadingage.org).