WASHINGTON — President Trump’s emergency management director said he’s pushing to overhaul disaster programs relief so that states, cities, and homeowners would bear more of the costs, with less risk falling on the federal government.

Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for homes that keep flooding, and the threshold for triggering federal assistance after a disaster might be too low. He also expressed support for an Obama administration idea to make local governments pay more when a hurricane or flood hits.

“I don’t think the taxpayer should reward risk going forward,’’ Long said. “We have to find ways to comprehensively become more resilient.’’

Lawmakers face an end-of-September deadline to rewrite the flood insurance program. But even without legislation, FEMA could shift initial costs for disaster relief to local or state governments, it says.

Such changes have the support of environmentalists, who hope it will make local leaders take climate change more seriously — passing stronger building codes, moving people out of flood-prone homes, or building stronger storm walls. 

But state and local governments cried foul after FEMA under then-president Barack Obama proposed shifting onto them the initial costs of rebuilding after storms. And 5 million households with federal flood insurance rely on that program; after Congress tried to rewrite it five years ago to cut the federal subsidy, it had to beat a retreat in the face of voter anger.

The most urgent challenge facing FEMA is the National Flood Insurance Program, which will expire at the end of September unless Congress reauthorizes it. Severe storms have left it $23 billion in debt.

One option is limiting coverage for homes that flood repeatedly. Long said he supports keeping them off the program.