When President Joe Biden nominated DeAnn Criswell to be administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2021, Criswell was confirmed unanimously, a rare gesture of bipartisan support from the bitterly divided U.S. Senate. Criswell was a longtime firefighter who served overseas with the Colorado Air National Guard and also had decades of emergency management experience, not only with FEMA but also in roles as local emergency response leaders in Colorado and New York City.
Criswell knew how FEMA’s system worked, but her mission was to change the status quo at an agency often criticized for responding too slowly after disasters and adapting too slowly to climate change. In her three years at the helm, she had attempted to overhaul FEMA’s disaster assistance programs, overseen billions of dollars in new spending on forward-thinking adaptation projects, and navigated bitter controversies over the rising costs of insurance and rebuilding in vulnerable communities. Her goal was not just to ensure FEMA functioned smoothly during disasters, but to change the agency’s culture to be more responsive to the needs of survivors and more proactive about disaster preparedness.
As the peak of hurricane season approaches, Grist sat down with Criswell to discuss how he has addressed some of FEMA’s biggest challenges and how he has sought to transform the agency from within. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Q. FEMA has a reputation in many disaster-hit communities for being slow and bureaucratic. From your perspective as someone who works here and is also a FEMA customer, how much do you think that reputation is justified?
A. I think you hear that a lot, but there are a lot of people who still have memories of Hurricane Katrina. They think of FEMA today as FEMA during Katrina. We are a different team. We respond faster, we have more resources for recovery, we have more resources for damage mitigation, we have more programs to build resiliency. We know that recovery is very complex, and some communities are more complex than others. But recovery can be done. So what we have to do is work with communities to understand their recovery needs. We have an integrated recovery team, and we not only implement FEMA programs, but we bring together all sectors — federal agencies, charities, nonprofits — to identify recovery goals for that community and help them on that complex road to recovery. [the criticism] While sometimes it may be justified, we are a very different institution than we were after Katrina, and I think we have made great strides.
Q. Earlier this year, FEMA announced a series of reforms The Individual Assistance Program has undergone a number of reforms, including deregulation, cutting red tape, and increasing funding for food and housing for disaster victims, that address many of the long-standing complaints and criticisms about the way the program is run. Why weren’t these reforms made sooner?
A. We’ve been working on that since the day I took over in this office. And I think that’s come about by hearing from the people who are seeking assistance about the challenges and the barriers that they’re facing. I was a regional emergency manager in a small community in Colorado. I was a regional emergency manager in New York City. So I know what it’s like to be a FEMA customer. In my first year here, I did a lot of visits to our joint field offices, listening to people’s stories and hearing some of the challenges that they’re facing.
I think that perspective helps us keep this issue a top priority, put people first, always try to understand their barriers, and understand that you can’t use a one-size-fits-all approach to program delivery. So I think a big part of that is the fact that we’ve actually been on the other side.
Q. FEMA’s resilience programs allocate billions of dollars for climate adaptation and disaster preparedness. But most of the funding from programs like Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) goes to Go to areas where white people and wealthy people live,and Some “superuser” status They get a lot of funding. I wonder what FEMA has done, or can still do, to fix these disparities.
A. When I arrived, the first round of BRIC funding was being disbursed. In the previous resilience program, the federal government had a cap of $5 million to spend, but BRIC gave us a cap of $50 million, so everyone was really excited. But from the first round, we learned that the structure we put in place was not representative of all communities across the United States and favored some coastal communities. So every year, we’ve been adjusting the competitive side of the program to make sure that everyone has a fair shot. We’ve also been doing direct technical assistance, which has been really effective. We’re putting experts in the most under-resourced communities, especially those that don’t have the expertise, the manpower, the time to think about what their next mitigation move is. [project] What they can do. We continue to expand it every year.
What I’m currently asking my team to do is to look at the return on investment of resilience projects and determine what’s working. We want projects to be successful, but sometimes projects get off to a bad start and don’t make it across the finish line. We’ll continue to refine how we score these projects to ensure that the communities that need it most benefit. For example, we’ll add points to the score for new applicants, [vulnerable area].
Q. In response to protests from environmental groups and cities, such as Phoenix, criticizing FEMA’s response, Does not react to heat wavesFEMA has said it can only declare disasters if state and local financial resources are exceeded. But in most areas, Apply for a heat stroke declaration Because it’s hard to say how much of a strain a heat wave can have on local finances. Do you think FEMA could or should change its criteria for declaring a heat wave disaster, and if so, how could FEMA help residents during a heat wave?
A. First, I’ll talk about the preparedness side. We know that heat is going to come every year. Just like hurricanes come to the Gulf Coast and the East Coast every year. So personal preparedness is really important, there’s no denying that. People need to know what their risks are, what severe weather events are going to affect them, and what their personal needs are. If you know you’re susceptible to heat, what if you lose power on a hot day? And we can also mitigate the impact through mitigation programs. There are a lot of communities that are using BRIC funding to reduce the urban heat island effect by planting tree canopies, painting roofs white, putting in splash pads for kids. That reduces the overall impact.
Let me talk about emergency response. I was working in New York City during the pandemic, and I was very concerned about the number of people who didn’t have air conditioning and the fact that we didn’t want to put them in crowded places. So New York City put in the money. [from the federal housing department’s home energy assistance program LI-HEAP] Putting air conditioning in people’s homes. From a cost standpoint, if it had been a disaster declaration, could FEMA have reimbursed the city for the cost of putting air conditioning in their homes? I don’t know. Probably could, but it would require collaboration from other agencies, right? We need a whole-of-government solution to help these communities.
I think about Hurricane Beryl and the power outages that recently happened in Houston. What can we do there, what can we not do there? We could use some of our programs to help vulnerable people get to places like cooling centers, or if they have to move somewhere for an extended period of time, our programs could help. I’m not opposed to the state coming in and asking for a heat stroke declaration. I just want to know what I’m going to compensate them for. for That’s not in the regular budget. Some of the stuff I’ve read is like, “We want FEMA to pay for the cooling centers.” I don’t like “pay for the cooling centers” because it sounds like I’m building something new, when really I’m just opening a library or getting people to come to the library.
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Q. Since Hurricane Ian hit Florida in 2022, Lee County Rebuilders Flood insurance costs are rising Prohibitively expensive It’s really, really expensive to rebuild homes up to code, and a lot of people can’t afford it. Is the purpose of these programs to prevent this kind of beachfront living? To what extent do you think this is something that FEMA and Congress should address through affordability mechanisms?
A. People always ask me, “Should we allow them to rebuild there?” and I say, in some areas, maybe not. That’s why we have programs to help people buy their homes and relocate them. But most of the time, it’s not a question of where, it’s a question of how. If you look at what’s happening in Lee County right now, we don’t want people to rebuild and risk their lives. It’s not just a question of how much it costs to rebuild a home. 150 people lost their lives in Hurricane Ian. They were in homes that weren’t tall enough or they chose not to evacuate.
So it’s not just about the cost of rebuilding, it’s also about what we can do to protect the lives of people in areas that are prone to severe weather events. It’s about saving lives and saving people who live in those areas, and people have to make a personal choice about whether it’s the right place for them to live, based on what their needs are.
But regarding that last point about affordability: [of flood insurance]We think there are certainly certain communities in the United States that are in high-risk areas, but that are the result of environmental injustice. They’re low-income areas, but they’re high-risk, and therefore the costs are very high. So we think we need an affordability plan to make sure people have the protections they need. But we also know that there are homes that are high value and high risk. We were subsidizing the rates for those homes before this.
Q. FEMA has been underfunded for two years in a row and Congress has not acted to replenish the budget, forcing the agency to step in again. “Urgently needed funds” That means pausing nearly all recovery and reconstruction projects and limiting spending to emergency response activities. With the peak of hurricane season approaching, what is a realistic worst-case scenario? And what can FEMA do in the absence of congressional action?
A. We have provided emergency assistance in the past, but usually after we have run out of funds due to major weather disasters. Now, we are working to end COVID-19. [reimbursements]all of those bills will come in. We always want to make sure we have enough funds to respond immediately to a major event like Hurricane Ian, and once we reach our available balance, we will respond to any emergency needs. One About those events. That’s where we are now.
In terms of response, I have secured sufficient funds to respond. One As I was watching Hurricane Debby, I was worried it would hit Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and beyond. If it had happened as predicted, we would have quickly used up the remaining money we had. There’s not much we can do other than get grant money. [appropriation] I’ve been hearing from Congress and walking the hallways of Congress to make sure they really know where we are. If there’s a big event or two in a row, I’ll have to go back to them and they may have to act sooner than they planned.
