The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition convenes and supports disaster-impacted communities to ensure that federal disaster recovery efforts reach all impacted households, including the lowest-income and most marginalized people who are often the hardest-hit by disasters and have the fewest resources to recover. Learn more about the DHRC’s policy recommendations here.
Biden Administration
President Biden announced on May 24 the administration will double the amount of FEMA funding to help communities prepare for extreme weather events. The administration will direct $1 billion to communities, states, and tribal governments through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, a portion of which will be targeted to disinvested communities.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) 2021 Atlantic hurricane outlook calls for the sixth straight above-average season. The hurricane season will likely see 13 to 20 named storms, including at least six that will become hurricanes and three to five categorized as major hurricanes with winds of more than 110 mph.
Hurricanes
Southerly reports on the challenges Gulf Coast emergency managers are facing as they prepare their communities for the upcoming hurricane season while still recovering from 2020’s record-breaking season. Emergency management agencies need resources for preparedness and recovery work, but local budgets are stretched thin, and securing federal reimbursement can be a lengthy process. State, parish, and city officials have asked the federal government for additional disaster relief funding for southwest Louisiana for months.
Houston Public Media and ABC13 report that Houston and Harris County were denied funding in the latest round of $1 billion in federal funding for Hurricane Harvey relief. The Texas General Land Office said that neither Harris County nor Houston’s applications scored high enough on a 2019 system used to score applications and determine how funds will be allocated. In Houston and the surrounding area, Hurricane Harvey caused $125 billion in damages, the most expensive disaster in the United States that year. Hurricane Harvey flooded more than 150,000 structures in Harris County, including 96,400 homes in Houston. Local officials are imploring the Department of Housing and Urban Development to halt the distribution of funds, complete an audit of how criteria were developed, and ensure that their communities receive funding.
Wildfires
The Salem Statesman-Journal reports that the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA) soon will purchase a Salem, Oregon motel and convert it into transitional housing for people displaced by last year’s wildfires and people experiencing chronic homelessness. The bulk of the funding is expected to come from the Oregon Community Foundation’s Project Turnkey. MWVCAA is also receiving about $2.5 million in FEMA reimbursements for providing non-congregate sheltering during the pandemic.