Is flood mitigation funding distributed equitably? Evidence from coastal states in the southeastern United States

Abstract

The United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides funding to state and local governments as well as tribes and territories (SLTTs) through its Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant program to engage in flood risk management efforts. Although all communities are susceptible to flooding, flooding does not impact communities equally. This article contributes to FEMA's goal of addressing equity concerns by examining whether the FMA program is distributed equitably in counties located in eight coastal states in the United States. Using secondary data from OpenFEMA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and parcel-level flood risk data from First Street Foundation from 2016 to 2020, results indicate that socially vulnerable counties are less likely to receive FMA funding, and counties with greater average flood risk are more likely to receive FMA funding. The findings suggest that there is an opportunity for FEMA to improve the FMA program so that funding can be more equitably distributed, such as providing grant writing and application training and support to socially vulnerable communities, educating socially vulnerable communities about the benefits of the FMA program, and extending the application deadline for socially vulnerable communities impacted by flood events.