SCRANTON — The Trump administration’s elimination of a Federal Emergency Management Administration funding program translates to the city losing $2.5 million for buyouts of 21 flood-prone properties that were swamped by flash floods in 2023, according to Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti.
On Friday, FEMA announced its ending of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and canceling all applications from fiscal years 2020-2023. Calling the program “wasteful and ineffective,” FEMA said in a press release posted online that BRIC funds not yet distributed will be immediately returned either to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury.
A homes impacted by flooding at 121 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Homes impacted by flooding at 120 and 122 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A homes impacted by flooding at 209 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A home impacted by flooding at 207 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A home impacted by flooding at 120 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A home impacted by flooding at 120 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Homes impacted by flooding at 120 and 122 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Cognetti issued a letter Tuesday to Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, and Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Dallas, whose district includes Scranton, to advocate in Congress for reinstating and preserving BRIC or an equivalent funding source.
Ending BRIC “will have a direct and detrimental impact on our city’s ability to mitigate flood risks, modernize infrastructure, and protect residents in vulnerable neighborhoods,” Cognetti said in her letter to the legislators.
The city has been working on BRIC-funded buyouts of 18 homes rendered uninhabitable in flash flooding of Sept. 9, 2023, and three vacant lots also deluged, Cognetti said. Those properties are on North Merrifield Avenue and Leggett, Mary and Jackson streets.
A pickup truck flipped onto its roof by flood waters on Sept. 9, 2023 on Leggett Street in Scranton. Photo taken Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
The city intended to pay for the $3.4 million total buyout cost using $2.5 million of BRIC grant funding and $849,000 of city funds, as the city’s portion was a 25% contribution.
The flood-prone parcels were to have vacant, condemned homes demolished and the properties repurposed for floodplain restoration and green infrastructure, which would be “vital strategies to reduce public safety risks and avoid future disaster recovery costs,” Cognetti said.
FEMA’s announcement said ending BRIC will help ensure that grant funding aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s direction “and best support states and local communities in disaster planning, response and recovery.”
Cognetti said Scranton has invested significant time and resources in coordination with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) on applications for BRIC funds. The city also was pursuing a BRIC Building Code Program Grant to update the city’s outdated building codes and provide staff training to better address natural hazards like flooding, according to the mayor’s letter.
In July, Scranton’s BRIC applications advanced past the initial federal review, which was a key step, and as recently as March 11 had continued progress in the review phase.
“We were hopeful and prepared to move forward. The abrupt cancellation of the BRIC program now threatens to erase years of planning, collaboration and federal-state-local investment — all at a time when climate-related disasters are accelerating,” Cognetti’s letter said.
The FEMA announcement said: “The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters. Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, we are committed to ensuring that Americans in crisis can get the help and resources they need.”
Nationwide, $882 million of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be returned to the U.S. Treasury or reapportioned by Congress in the next fiscal year, according to FEMA. That 2021 law made $1 billion available for BRIC over five years. Of that, $133 million went to about 450 applications. FEMA estimates more than $3.6 billion will remain in the Disaster Relief Fund to assist with disaster response and recovery for communities and survivors.
Scranton City Business Administrator Eileen Cipriani said Tuesday in a phone interview the city is contacting affected property owners of the buyouts about the federal funding being pulled and the city will be looking for alternative funding sources.