Southern California has more than $191 million in resilience projects awaiting federal approval, CBS Los Angeles reported, while federal auditors found 700 applications worth about $2.2 billion awaiting awards nationwide in March 2025.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) runs Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), a program that supports projects to limit hazard damage before disasters. Across its first four funding rounds, covering fiscal years 2020 through 2023, FEMA allocated about $2.5 billion of roughly $4.8 billion available, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said.
GAO’s September 2026 audit found that FEMA had selected 700 applications for further review but had not completed the next review stage or decided on awards by March 2025. About 50 applications had been waiting more than two years. GAO found a median of seven to nine months to complete reviews and issue awards, and said delays can extend project schedules and raise costs.
FEMA announced in April 2025 that it would end BRIC. The agency made no new subgrant awards or funding obligations from that month through March 2026, according to GAO. A federal court set aside the termination in December 2025 after California and other states challenged it, and barred FEMA from terminating or suspending the program for those plaintiffs without congressional authorization. After the court enforced its order in March 2026, FEMA announced it was resuming BRIC on March 18.
GAO also found FEMA headquarters did not give regional staff and stakeholders actionable program information for 11 months after the cancellation announcement. In California, CBS Los Angeles reported that no pending BRIC projects had been approved in 2026 as of Nov. 5. The outlet identified a $15 million San Bernardino County flood-control project and reported that some communities had abandoned projects amid the delays.
FEMA had reimbursed subrecipients $326 million, about 32% of roughly $1 billion obligated for BRIC grants, as of June 2026, GAO said. The audit did not classify the remaining balance as overdue. GAO described a project whose estimated cost climbed from $40 million to more than $60 million before its 2024 award; the community found other funding to cover the increase.
Chris Currie, director of GAO’s Homeland Security and Justice team, told CBS Los Angeles: “The longer it takes to finish a resilience project, the greater the risk.” GAO said FEMA began developing a process in March 2026 to review older applications selected for further review.
