We told the FEMA Review Council: Disaster survivors need more – across the board

We’re disaster survivors, so if anyone knows FEMA, it’s us: what works, what doesn’t work, and what we want to see more of. In May 2025, the new federal FEMA Review Council opened up a public input period to hear our feedback on how we want to see FEMA improve.

We made it clear to the Review Council that disaster survivors need more support, not less, and included your stories about how you got help from FEMA and what they could do better. We know that FEMA is a key part of surviving the “storm after the storm” – our term for the financial and emotional chaos of trying to rebuild, repair, and get home and whole in the aftermath of a disaster. However, in order to best serve storm survivors in New Jersey and nationwide, there are some key improvements FEMA needs to make to offer a more complete and comprehensive recovery. Here’s what we told the FEMA Review Council…

First, FEMA must get more money to more people, and do it much faster in the aftermath of a disaster. Hurricane Ida showed us in New Jersey that we desperately need FEMA’s temporary rental assistance after a storm to keep a roof over our heads while our homes are being repaired.

Second, FEMA must ensure these families have access to sufficient immediate recovery funding, including for families who have insurance, but whose insurance does not provide adequate coverage for them to recover.

Third, FEMA must focus on mitigation as well as immediate recovery. We don’t just want to recover from one storm, we want to be better prepared for the next one.

Finally, FEMA must reduce denial rates and help survivors get into their programs, instead of issuing denials to qualified families. On a similar note, FEMA must prioritize better communication with survivors, ensuring timely access to representatives and understandable communications in a variety of languages.

You can read the full packet we submitted to FEMA down below. Thank you to every single one of you who signed on and added your own stories and feedback!

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