Fixing FEMA from Marketplace.

I'm Sabrie Benashore, in for David Brancaccio.

After a natural disaster,

getting individual aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency

or FEMA can be a notoriously slow and cumbersome process.

The Biden administration is attempting to take on that problem.

Under new rules, FEMA will offer up-front housing vouchers and shorten the

application process for businesses among other changes.

Marketplace's Savannah-Marr has more.

The largest wildfire in New Mexico's history was set by the federal government. It started out as a prescribed

burn in 2022 before it got out of control. Two years later, hundreds of victims are still waiting

on FEMA payments.

It's been exhausting.

Jana Lopez runs a community group that's been helping people apply for aid.

Right when they think they have their application turned in more documents are requested, more

agitated.

FEMA's new regulations are meant to cut through this kind of red tape, especially for low-income

victims and those without disaster insurance.

I think it's all trending in the right direction.

But Michael Wara, a climate policy expert at Stanford, says FEMA has more work to do.

The reality is that it is much more cost effective

to help people be prepared for disaster

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