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FEMA's caps on disaster grants to a household are $44,800 for housing and $44,800 for other needs in disasters declared since October 1, 2025, under a notice filed September 28, 2026, 362 days after the date it applies from; the 23 earlier notices of the cap, 2002 through 2024, each appeared by November 15.

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FEMA filed a notice on September 28, 2026, for Federal Register publication September 29, setting the maximum amounts its Individuals and Households Program pays one household for one disaster: $44,800 for housing assistance and $44,800 for other needs assistance, for emergencies and major disasters declared on or after October 1, 2025. The previous caps, set in October 2024 for disasters declared from October 1, 2024, were $43,600 each. Companion notices filed the same morning raise the Serious Needs Assistance award to $790, from $770, and the Public Assistance small-project threshold to $1,093,800, from $1,062,900. All rest on a 2.9 percent rise in consumer prices in the 12 months to August 2025. The law requires an annual adjustment. The 23 earlier notices of the cap that a Federal Register search returns, 2002 through 2024, each appeared between October 6 and November 15 of the year their coverage began; Hugin found none in 2025. The notices do not say which cap FEMA applied to these disasters before now. No cap for disasters declared from October 1, 2026 had been filed by midday September 28.

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If a storm, flood or fire damaged your home in a federally declared disaster since October 1, 2025, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has now issued the formal notice of its grant caps for your household: $44,800 for housing and a separate $44,800 for other needs. FEMA filed the notice on September 28, 2026, nearly a year after the date it applies from.

A yearly number, published at the end of the year

The Stafford Act says the caps "shall be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers". FEMA's notice says the new figure "applies to emergencies and major disasters declared on or after October 1, 2025." It was filed 362 days after that date, to publish on September 29, two days before fiscal 2027 begins. The inflation reading it rests on, a 2.9 percent rise in the 12 months to August 2025, was released on September 11, 2025.

A search of the Federal Register's database returns 23 earlier notices of the cap, 2002 through 2024. Each appeared between October 6 and November 15 of the year its coverage began. The last, on October 24, 2024, set $43,600 in each category. Hugin found none published in 2025.

The same morning FEMA filed five companion notices applying the same 2.9 percent to other amounts. The Serious Needs Assistance award rises to $790, from $770. The cutoff for small-project grants to state, tribal and local governments and nonprofits, which are handled under simplified procedures, rises to $1,093,800, from $1,062,900.

What the cap covers

The two caps are separate, and each applies per household, per disaster. Under the law, rent for a place to stay while you are displaced does not count against the housing cap, and repairs to accessibility features for people with disabilities are excluded too. Other needs means costs such as medical, dental, child care, funeral, personal property and transportation.

The $790 serious-needs award is for applicants who "report they are displaced as a result of the disaster", report a need for shelter, or have other emergency expenses. FEMA does not require receipts for it.

Survivors who get aid for flood damage and live in a special flood hazard area can be enrolled in a three-year group flood insurance policy paid from their other-needs award. Its coverage "must be equivalent to the maximum assistance amount", so this notice raises it too.

What you can do

  • Check your declaration date. Declared on or after October 1, 2025: $44,800 in each category. Declared from October 1, 2024 until then: $43,600 each, under the 2024 notice.
  • Appeal within 60 days. FEMA's rules let applicants appeal the amount or type of assistance, and require the appeal "within 60 days after the date that we notify the applicant of the award or denial of assistance." If your state runs the other-needs program under a FEMA grant, the rules send the appeal to the state instead. If a letter for a disaster declared since October 1, 2025 cites a lower cap, ask FEMA which figure it used.
  • Disasters declared from October 1, 2026 have no published cap yet. None was among FEMA's filings as of midday September 28.

What the record does not say

  • Which cap FEMA applied before now. The notices do not say what cap limited awards for these disasters until now, or whether any will be recalculated. FEMA's program page, last updated July 28, 2026, states no dollar limit. A South Carolina Emergency Management Division page read September 28 already lists $44,800 for fiscal 2026; Hugin could not tell when that was posted.
  • Why the notice came when it did. None of the six notices gives a reason.
  • How many households reached either cap, or what a typical award is.
  • The older notices. Their dates come from Federal Register search results. Hugin read the 2024 notice in full, not the earlier ones.

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