Use case
PNP eligibility turns on three tests and one gate: the organization, the facility, the service — then whether the SBA loan requirement applies before FEMA funds permanent work. Ask what the governing text requires of each.
Citations checked against current published sources 2026-09-04
We're a nonprofit and our building was damaged. Are we eligible for FEMA PA at all — and do we have to go to SBA before FEMA will pay for the roof?
44 CFR § 206.221(f) requires either an effective IRS ruling letter under section 501(c), (d), or (e), or satisfactory state evidence that the organization is a non-revenue-producing nonprofit. PAPPG v5 adds that the letter must have been in effect on the declaration date. Paste the letter's date and status and ask what the rule requires — you get the provision text and the RPA documentation list beside it.
PAPPG v5 sorts PNP services into three tables: Table 3 critical services (education, emergency medical, utility, emergency services), Table 4 noncritical but essential social services (community centers, libraries, museums, senior centers, houses of worship, food banks), and Table 5 ineligible services (recreation, athletic training, camps, retreats, cemeteries, docks and piers). Give it the service description from your charter, RPA, or program list and ask where it falls. The line between a community center and a recreation facility is where these claims die.
Stafford Act § 406(a)(3)(A) and 44 CFR § 206.226(c) condition FEMA funding of permanent work on an SBA section 7(b) loan determination — unless the facility provides a critical service. Emergency work never triggers it: debris removal and emergency protective measures are funded without an SBA step. Ask about your specific facility and the answer cites the governing text it relied on — Stafford Act § 406(a)(3), 44 CFR § 206.226(c), and PAPPG v5 Table 2.
Where a building holds both eligible and ineligible uses, PAPPG v5 turns eligibility on primary use: more than 50 percent of physical space dedicated to eligible services, measured across the whole structure with common areas like hallways and bathrooms excluded. Eligible facilities are then prorated by that percentage. Paste your eligible and ineligible square footage and ask what the primary-use rule requires — you get the PAPPG v5 text on the more-than-50-percent threshold, the common-space exclusion, and proration, with the citation. Critical versus eligible noncritical does not trigger the calculation at all.
A noncritical PNP facility must serve the general public. PAPPG v5 requires that use not be limited to a defined group with a financial interest, that access not be restricted by gates or security intended to keep the public out, and that any membership fee be nominal, waived on inability to pay, and consistent with similar facilities. Paste the fee clause from your membership policy and ask what PAPPG v5 requires of a nominal fee — nominal, waived on inability to pay, not large enough to exclude a significant portion of the community, and consistent with similar facilities.
No. The SBA prerequisite in Stafford Act § 406(a)(3)(A) applies only where the facility does not provide a critical service. Emergency medical care is a critical service under § 406(a)(3)(B) and 44 CFR § 206.226(c)(1), and PAPPG v5 is explicit that no SBA application is required for a facility providing critical services even if it also provides non-critical ones. The senior center does not change that. Note the split that does matter: debris removal and emergency protective measures never require an SBA step for any PNP. Table 6 calls for a list of the services provided at the damaged facility — the clinic's services belong on it.
Sources
PAPPAIA answers targeted questions by retrieving the policy passages that match them. It is not an exhaustive audit and cannot tell you what your document leaves out — absence is not something retrieval can find.
Free while PAPPAIA is in public preview. Answers are grounded in cited policy sources and include exact references for independent verification. General information, not legal or grant-compliance advice.
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