Creation of the FEMA Individuals and Households Program (IHP)
(and the elimination of the FEMA Individual and Family Grant Program)

The FEMA IFG Program was authorized under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.  The "Stafford Act" was updated by Congress October 30, 2000.  The revision is called the "Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA2K)."  The revisions impact the current IFG Program as well as the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) Program and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).  FEMA implemented the IHP in Ohio for the November 2002 Northeast tornados.

For disasters declared after October 2002, the IFG will no longer exist.  It has been replaced by the FEMA Individuals and Households Program (IHP).  Under the FEMA IHP, there are two (2) types of assistance that will be available, Housing Assistance (HA) and Other Needs Assistance (ONA).  HA is funded and administered 100% by FEMA.  ONA is administered by FEMA with a cost-shared of 75% for FEMA and 25% by the State. 

The ONA categories for assistance are Personal Property, Transportation, Medical, Funeral and Dental for homeowners and renters, individuals and/or families.  There is not  an ONA category for homeowners to receive Repair Assistance for damages to their primary residences.

As of October 2005, the maximum amount of assistance available under the IHP is $27,200 and is reviewed annually in October for a possible increase based on the Consumer Price Index.  Please note that this amount is the total amount provided under HA, ONA or a combination of both HA and ONA, per application.

ONA grants will still be for essential, uninsured disaster-related losses or needs and, prior to processing for eligibility for potential Personal Property and Transportation awards, the applicant must first seek and be denied SBA disaster loan assistance.

In addition to the change from IFG to ONA, there have been several significant changes in the Housing Assistance category, as well.  Prior to DMA2K, a homeowner with uninsured damages to their primary residence could receive $5000 in repair funds, if the home was repairable.  The maximum amount could be increased up to $10,000. 

Currently, under the FEMA IHP HA, a homeowner with uninsured losses can receive up to $5,400 for emergency repairs. However, any requests for additional repair funds will require the homeowner to seek an SBA home/personal property loan; there are no additional emergency repair funds available from FEMA... 

HA can also provide up to $10,900 maximum to an uninsured homeowner for the replacement of a home that is determined destroyed and unrepairable by the FEMA inspector.  This is a new form of assistance that was not available under the pre-DMA2K FEMA Disaster Housing assistance program.  This form of HA is not income-based and does not require a decline by SBA to be made available to otherwise eligible applicants.

There are other changes in the IHP HA category, but the two discussed will be the most obvious change from the pre-DMA2K FEMA Disaster Housing Program.

Although there have been changes from the FEMA Disaster Housing Program and the Individual and Family Grant (IFG) Program to the Individuals and Households Program (IHP) with HA and ONA, it is important to recognize that there will still exist a supplemental federal disaster grant program for disaster victims in Ohio when there is a Presidentially declared disaster.  The names and various aspects of the Programs known as FEMA DH and IFG have changed but, there are still disaster assistance programs to address these types of Individual Assistance needs.