Colorado FEMA Funding
| INDEX | |||||
| ▪ | Executive Summary
| ▪ | Report
| ▪ | Figures
| |
Executive Summary
The federal government has proposed restructuring or cutting funding of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency which provides emergency disaster relief and preparedness support and coordination.
State and local governments in Colorado, including fire departments, stand to lose tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per year and hundreds of FEMA-associated jobs.
Since 2021, Colorado has received $3.25 billion in funding commitments from FEMA and employs over 500 people in the state.
60% of total funds provided to Colorado are for hazard mitigation assistance, which is designed to prevent or minimize damage from natural disasters.
Natural hazard mitigation spending has an average 600% return on investment. The $2.4 billion Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant total over the last four and a half years in Colorado would equate to between $7.2 and $16.8 billion in return to Colorado since 2021.
Report
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is best known for emergency disaster relief coordination and funding, but also plays several other roles:
promotes preparedness through grants, training, and planning,
manages the National Flood Insurance Program and helps communities manage floodplains, and
provides recovery resources after a disaster through the National Disaster Recovery Framework.
This assistance is largely provided through grant programs:
Preparedness Grants
Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants
Shelter and Services Programs
Emergency Food and Shelter Program
National Dam Safety Program State Assistance Grant
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Earthquake State Assistance Grant Program
Next Generation Warning System Grant
The federal government has proposed restructuring or cutting funding at FEMA both during the current federal fiscal year and for the next fiscal year. The executive order [LINK] signed on March 18, 2025, indicates the federal administration’s goal is to shift the responsibility of preparing for potential natural disasters and cyber attacks to state and local governments. It is unclear how this is being implemented and whether the proposed budget cuts for federal fiscal year 2026 (FFY26) will be adopted.
From 2021 to 2025, FEMA obligated $3.25 billion in funding to Colorado (as detailed below). State and local governments in Colorado, including fire departments, stand to lose tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per year and hundreds of FEMA-associated jobs.
According an estimate from the National Institute of Building Sciences [LINK], natural hazard mitigation spending has an average 600% return on investment. This is based on estimates for benefit-cost ratios of riverine flood, hurricane, wind, earthquake and wildland-urban interface fires that were calculated by quantifying the present value of potential future losses based on the likelihood of those events occurring. The more likely the event is to take place, the greater the benefit of the hazard mitigation investment.
Given the probability of Colorado experiencing a riverine flood or wildland-urban interface fire, the $2.4 billion Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant total over the last four and a half years in Colorado would equate to between $7.2 and $16.8 billion in return to Colorado since 2021.
Figures
FEMA Funding to Colorado: 2021-2025 YTD (In millions of dollars)
*All funds reported are total obligated funds from USAspending [LINK] (Total funds outlayed for the same period were $799.6 million. The authors do not believe this to be accurate based on certain grants in which the funds have been outlayed but are not represented as such in the data.)
Current Fiscal Year cuts
FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program has withdrawn its pledged $24 million [LINK] in funding to the City and County of Denver for costs incurred to house and provide services for the thousands of migrants that arrived between 2022 and 2024.
FEMA announced [LINK] the elimination of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, noting that any funds not distributed to communities can no longer be expected. Flood Mitigation Assistance [LINK] (FMA) grants are also canceled for 2025.