In partnership with the National Association of Counties (NAC), National League of Cities (NLC), and Enterprise, NLIHC sent a letter cosigned by 53 additional national organizations to congressional leadership requesting the inclusion of the bipartisan “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” in any must-pass piece of legislation, including any emergency disaster supplemental appropriations package.
NLIHC and its Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) of more than 900 local, state, and national organizations support the bipartisan “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act,” which was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Patty Murray (DWA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Todd Young (R-IN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Alex Padilla (D-CA). The bill would formally authorize HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program to ensure long-term disaster recovery resources reach survivors and their communities more quickly after a disaster and are better targeted to those with the greatest needs.
CDBG-DR is a vital tool that provides flexible, long-term resources needed to rebuild after a disaster and to prepare for future harm. However, the lack of formal authorization leads to unnecessary delays that harms survivors and communities. Without the additional safeguards and transparency provisions laid out in the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, recovery and mitigation efforts can be inconsistent and steer funding away from those most in need. Households with low incomes are the most impacted by disasters but receive the least amount of assistance afterward. As climate change continues to create longer wildfire and hurricane seasons, the importance of ensuring these households are able to fully recover will only grow.
The 2019 version of the bill introduced by Representative Al Green (D-TX) was unanimously passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services and was approved by the House through a bipartisan vote. HUD and the U.S. Government Accountability Office under the past two administrations have agreed that permanently authorizing the CDBG-DR program would vastly improve the operation of the country’s most important long-term disaster recovery program.
Read a fact sheet on the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act at: https://bit.ly/3U6buBZ
Read the text of the bill at: https://bit.ly/3qXAC4e
Read the letter at: https://bit.ly/3NzOJUY