Natural Disaster Recovery Program Act of 2025
The Natural Disaster Recovery Program Act of 2025 would significantly reshape federal disaster recovery by creating a new Natural Disaster Recovery Program under the Stafford Act. It establishes a Natural Disaster Recovery Reserve Fund in the Treasury to hold money for major disasters and allows funds to be used first to address unmet recovery needs of states and Indian tribes, plus provide technical assistance and capacity building to administer the program. The bill also creates a separate Unmet Needs Assistance framework that lets governors request grants to cover unmet needs beyond existing federal assistance, with a dedicated funding set-aside and reporting requirements. Additional provisions expand repair and rebuilding authorities, add a FEMA Emergency Home Repair Program for minor repairs and shelter options, lengthen appeal timelines, and require reporting and oversight (GAO and Comptroller General studies) on disaster declarations, timing, and program administration. Overall, the bill aims to accelerate, standardize, and increase transparency in disaster recovery financing and implementation, while introducing what it describes as targeted flexibility for unmet needs and long-term resilience. Key design features include: a separate fund to pool and manage recovery dollars; a proportional grant allocation based on unmet need; upfront and post-award reporting requirements; explicit allowances for administration costs and capacity building; environmental-review flexibilities for fund use; a focus on housing repair/rebuilding and economic recovery; and enhanced accountability through required reports and independent reviews.
Key Points
- 1Natural Disaster Recovery Reserve Fund: creates a dedicated Treasury account to hold and disburse funds for major disasters, available to states and Indian tribal governments for unmet needs and for capacity-building and technical assistance to administer the program; unused funds may be transferred back to the Treasury, with extensions possible for up to 4 more years under a waiver process.
- 2Unmet Needs Assistance (Sec. 432): authorizes governors to request grants from a set-aside of the Disaster Relief Fund to cover unmet needs beyond other federal programs, with 10% of estimated grants set aside for this purpose; grants may fund housing repairs, disaster-related services, and post-disaster economic recovery activities; requires ongoing reporting and a 5% administrative cap for recipient costs.
- 3Expanded repair and rebuilding authorities (Sec. 5) and FEMA home repair (Sec. 6): authorizes repair of owner-occupied homes and certain minimal repairs to restore habitability, including direct assistance when other resources are unavailable; requires rapid identification of shelter and housing options after a major disaster and directs rulemaking to implement these changes within two years.
- 4Appeals improvements (Sec. 7): extends the assistance period for individuals and households to 24 months and requires the FEMA Administrator to provide applicants with documentation, reasons for determinations, remediation steps, and inspection documents during the appeals process.
- 5Transparency and oversight (Sec. 8-10): requires a congressionally focused report detailing disaster declaration processes and denial reasons, and mandates GAO and Comptroller General reviews on program fiscal controls and the timing of closing out disaster recoveries.
- 6Administrative and procurement standards: sets caps and potential sliding-scale limits on administrative costs for grant recipients; requires competitive procurement standards, cost analyses, and adherence to federal contract requirements; includes capacity-building support and procurement templates to help grantees.