Disaster Financial Assistance
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Disaster Financial Assistance: Provides support to rebuild
People apply for Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) when they have lost their home or essential belongings and are uninsured or don’t have enough insurance to cover their losses. They are looking to government for help amid disaster to rebuild their homes.
In 2021, private sector DFA was only available for losses related to the atmospheric river. DFA provided over $32.6 million in assistance to BC homeowners and tenants impacted by the atmospheric river events. However, DFA support is limited in scope by design, and people experienced significant delays, unclear procedures and poor communication.
“Making people wait in limbo for months on end is unacceptable. It took DFA nine months to tell us we didn’t qualify for help… Now we are in the process of appealing the decision, which also takes time… We can’t go to the bank and ask for a construction loan until these other avenues are decided on. So we continue to be in limbo and it looks like that will be the case for many months to come.”
– Evacuee
What we found:
Key recommendations
Identify ways to better communicate about the program to those who use it or may need it
Ensure the program has capacity to process applications and appeals in a timely manner
Review policies for equity and collect socio-demographic data to assess disproportionate impacts
