The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a new policy on October 15: Building Code and Floodplain Management Administration and Enforcement (#204-079-01). Included in the final policy were several changes regarding historic properties suggested by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) which aim to help local communities fund historic preservation-related responses in the months following a disaster.

The policy addresses how FEMA’s Public Assistance Program will assist communities to administer and enforce state and locally adopted building codes and floodplain management ordinances during the 180 days after the date of a major disaster declaration. Specifically cited as activities eligible for FEMA funding assistance are:

You can view the policy in full here.

Additionally, last week the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) issued a new report, A Resilient Future for Coastal Communities: Federal Policy Recommendations from Solutions in Practice. The EESI is a non-profit organization is a non-profit that provides research and policy recommendations to policymakers, including members of Congress, on climate change, energy, and environmental challenges.

Cultural heritage is one of the six themes addressed in the report, with others including community at the forefront, disaster policy, land use and development, climate adaptation and resilience data, and financing adaptation and resilience. Starting on page 25, Section 3 addresses three cultural heritage policy recommendations:

Summaries of each policy recommendation, including examples, is available in full report is available here.