Homes, commercial buildings, and critical infrastructure systems that are designed and constructed today will be relied upon for decades to come. As the impacts of climate change intensify, however, many of these new structures will be damaged or destroyed because they were built to the standards of weak building codes. In the last year alone, extreme weather events drove more 3 million Americans out of their homes.
Weak building codes not only make our communities less safe, they leave us facing growing financial burdens. As climate-fueled disasters continue to grow, people across large parts of the United States will struggle to find insurance at a price they can afford. Wildfires in California, hurricanes and flooding in Florida and Louisiana, and severe thunderstorms and hail in the Midwest have all contributed to homeowners insurance getting much more expensive. The growing loss of accessible and affordable insurance is turning the American Dream of home ownership into a nightmare.
Climate-resilient building codes and standards, which anticipate and protect against the effects of climate hazards, could be a game changer. Incentivizing the development, adoption and enforcement of modern, climate-resilient building codes will help prepare communities for the impacts of climate change. Such actions can increase protection and reduce damage costs, which makes properties more insurable today and for decades to come. Moreover, energy and water efficiency codes can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many states and localities have failed to adopt safer and stronger building codes. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has offered millions of dollars to states, tribes, and territories to rectify this problem. Yet, many are just leaving the money on the table, putting their residents at risk.
States Underutilize FEMA’s Building Code Plus-Up Program
In July, FEMA announced its latest selections for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Community (BRIC) program, an annual funding opportunity for disaster risk reduction. This round of grants included the first-ever Building Code Plus-Up, where FEMA made funding available specifically for building code adoption, implementation, enforcement, and training. With FEMA prioritizing BRIC applications in states and localities with up-to-date codes, this represented an important opportunity not just to strengthen codes for their own sake but also to stay competitive for future funding.
Each state and territory were eligible for $2 million under the Building Code Plus-Up, for a possible total of $112 million. However, only 19 states and Puerto Rico applied for at least $1.5 million. Ultimately, FEMA selected projects totaling about $55 million in federal funding—less than half of the available amount. The jurisdictions in red and orange in the map below are leaving money on the table and missing a key opportunity to make their communities more resilient.
