The House passed on June 25 a five-bill spending package for FY20 that includes funding and provisions that would affect disaster housing recovery efforts.
The spending package created a Homeless Assistance Grant (HAG) Fund for recaptured homelessness assistance grants. At least 10% of these funds could be used to provide assistance to people experiencing homelessness prior to a presidentially declared disaster. Currently, those experiencing homelessness prior to a disaster are not eligible for FEMA assistance.
The bill also provides $4.66 million for permanent HUD disaster recovery staff and includes a provision to promote data transparency to help localities address mitigation in their planning processes.
The House approved an amendment offered by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) to add $2 million to the HUD Inspector General to investigate the ongoing 16-month delay in HUD’s release of over $16 billion in Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Relief funding.
Review the text of the bill at: https://bit.ly/2RDWw6J
Read NLIHC’s analysis of the Transportation-HUD and Agriculture bills at: https://bit.ly/2HwEvnC
Review NLIHC’s budget chart at: https://bit.ly/2rl7MZC