Six Los Angeles projects designed to shield the city from wildfires, earthquakes and floods have been waiting more than four months for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give them final approval, according to Mayor Karen Bass. At stake is $745 million in potential funding that, according to a letter from Reps. Maxine Waters and Brad Sherman, FEMA had not obligated a cent of toward Los Angeles's recovery and preparedness work.
Months of Waiting, No Money Moving
A video report from CBS News Los Angeles detailed how federal approval has stalled for projects meant to protect the region from fires, landslides, floods and earthquakes, as reported by CBS News Los Angeles. The holdup matches what city leaders have been warning about since early September, when a letter cited by MyNewsLA said the six Hazard Mitigation Grant Program projects had been “pending final action by FEMA for more than four months.”
Reps. Maxine Waters and Brad Sherman wrote that FEMA has yet to obligate any of the $745 million in potential HMGP funding for Los Angeles’ recovery, according to the same letter. The six projects are intended to protect critical infrastructure, housing and essential public services from future wildfires, earthquakes and flooding, per that account.
What the Projects Would Actually Fix
Among the proposed work: one project would reduce recurring flooding at four high-risk locations across the city, the letter states. Two others target the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's electrical grid — one would add seismic upgrades to nine critical LADWP substations, while another would install fire-resistant cable-trench covers at 21 high-priority substations specifically to reduce wildfire risk, according to details cited in the letter.
A Pattern Playing Out Statewide
Los Angeles is not an isolated case. In Northern California, El Dorado County had spent three years preparing to enroll more than 500 homes in a wildfire-resilience program, but the project has been stalled for more than a year awaiting FEMA approval, according to NPR. Nearby, Plumas County has been waiting on $2.5 million to clear flammable vegetation around homes, per the same report.
The scale of the backlog is national. NPR reported, citing internal agency documents it obtained, that FEMA owes communities almost $10 billion. States have told the outlet that disaster funding payments have slowed to a trickle, delaying projects meant to help communities withstand wildfires, hurricanes and floods.
A Review Process Measured in Months, Not Weeks
Federal watchdog findings help explain the lag. FEMA takes an average of seven to nine months to decide whether to fund a project through its Building Resilience Infrastructure and Communities program, according to a GAO finding reported by Engineering News-Record. As of March 2025, 700 grant requests from local communities remained in limbo, and communities told the GAO that lengthy reviews can extend project schedules and raise costs, per the same report.
The trade publication also reported that FEMA did not approve or reject any grant applications while the BRIC program itself was cancelled from April 2025 until March 2026, when a federal court order reinstated it. Separately, the September 2, 2026, MyNewsLA report says Mayor Karen Bass's office cited Congressional Research Service data showing that no new Hazard Mitigation Assistance funding had been approved since March 2025, except for certain congressional earmarks.
Malibu's Water Supply Project Faces the Same Delay
Los Angeles County has its own earlier example of the holdup. The county was selected for a $4.89 million FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program award in December 2024 for the Encinal Canyon Road Emergency Interconnection Project, but the project has been significantly delayed due to FEMA’s prolonged processing of the award, MyNewsLA reported in August.
As of the September letter, the six Los Angeles projects were pending FEMA action, with $745 million in potential funding at stake.
