H.R. 501 — Promoting Resilient Buildings Act of 2025

This section defines “latest published editions,” for purposes of subsections (e)(1)(B)(iv) and (g)(10) of the predisaster hazard mitigation program (i.e., grants to states and localities for cost-effective measures to reduce injuries, loss of life, and property damage from disasters), as the two most recently published editions of relevant consensus-based codes, specifications, and standards.

This section strikes paragraph (5) of subsection (f) of section 205 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

This section establishes a residential resilience pilot program under the predisaster hazard mitigation program (42 U.S.C. 5133), under which the FEMA Administrator provides assistance to states and local governments for grants to individuals for residential resilient retrofits (i.e., projects increasing home resilience to local hazards such as elevation, floodproofing, safe rooms, seismic retrofits, wildfire measures, and wind retrofits). The Administrator may use not more than 10% of annual assistance available under that program for the pilot; must prioritize grants to individuals demonstrating financial need; and must establish the pilot within one year of enactment, with termination on September 30, 2030. (As background, the predisaster hazard mitigation program provides technical and financial assistance to states and local governments, based on governor recommendations, for cost-effective measures reducing injuries, loss of life, and property damage from natural disasters.) Not later than six years after enactment, the Administrator must report to specified congressional committees on grant awards and projects (including number and types of homes retrofitted, costs, demographics, and estimated reductions in disaster impacts and federal payments compared to other section 203 mitigation), plus implementation challenges and recommendations. The pilot applies only to amounts appropriated on or after enactment.

This section provides a rule of construction specifying that nothing in this Act or its amendments affects any program other than the predisaster hazard mitigation program or the hazard mitigation revolving loan fund program established under sections 203 or 205, respectively, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.