Posts and comments circulating on social media claim that signing up for disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency can give the government control of your land through eminent domain.
Eminent domain, also sometimes called expropriation, is the power of a government entity to take private property for public use, assuming compensation is provided to property owners.
FEMA’s powers are laid out in the Stafford Act — and eminent domain is not among them.
“Nowhere directly in the Stafford Act is FEMA authorized to just take land,” said attorney Caitlin Morgenstern.
Under the act, FEMA may use certain public and non-profit facilities for emergency preparedness, but that “does not include people's private property and homes,” Morgenstern said.
Morgenstern is the co-founder and Board President of Emergency Legal Responders, a disaster rights advocacy group. The organization works across the country and in several U.S. territories to provide free emergency legal assistance.
“Rumors from one storm or disaster will come up in another disaster,” Morgenstern said, noting that misinformation about FEMA seizing land was particularly widespread along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
Morgenstern said that eminent domain abuse is real, and the government has “a checkered past of preying on vulnerable populations such as communities of color” through eminent domain.
That’s contributed to feelings of distrust of the federal government among marginalized communities and discouraged some from seeking resources from federal agencies like FEMA.
Those feelings are especially potent in Hawaiʻi right now, said Maui-born attorney and cultural practitioner Uʻilani Tanigawa-Lum.
“The history of Hawaiʻi and the history of kānaka maoli in particular is riddled with stories of broken trust,” Tanigawa-Lum said. “I think it harkens back to the United States’ role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. A lot of kānaka maoli still carry a lot of mistrust and hurt and trauma related to those events. And so any sort of rumors, even if they are rumors, about land being taken is really scary for some people.”
Amelia Hoppe, also a co-founder and the Executive Director of Emergency Legal Responders, said that skepticism is “completely understandable.” Still, she urged Maui residents affected by wildfires to apply for disaster assistance through federal aid.
“Please apply for FEMA, please,” Hoppe said. “We understand the fears. You're not alone. We've seen it in many states and territories, but we do not want you to lose this opportunity to receive the aid that you are owed. You are owed this aid.”
And receiving FEMA aid may help you protect your property later on, Morgenstern added. While FEMA does not have the right to take private property through eminent domain, state and local governments do.
“When there are concerns about eminent domain, more of the concerns are with state and local governments after a disaster,” Morgenstern said. “This is something we're seeing now in Lake Charles, Louisiana, for homes that were damaged during Hurricane Laura, which was back in 2020.”
Many Lake Charles home and business owners had insufficient insurance and aid to rebuild their properties, she said.
A year after Hurricane Laura hit the area, the local government announced it would condemn hundreds of unrepaired buildings, taking control of those properties through eminent domain.
“That is what I think people need to worry about if you're thinking about eminent domain,” Morgenstern said. “FEMA is there to provide some monetary assistance to people and if the assistance is available, we think that people should take it. It is one step on the way to rebuilding.”
FEMA opened its first Disaster Recovery Center on Maui last Wednesday. Maui residents affected by the recent wildfires can apply for federal assistance at the center, located at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College.
But people have a limited time to get their claims in, and the clock started ticking days before the center opened. The deadline to file an initial claim is 60 days from the date of the official disaster declaration, which was on August 10th.
That deadline can only be extended by a direct request from the governor.
