Senators from Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina sent a joint letter to President Biden on October 16 urging the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to “submit to Congress a detailed supplemental appropriations request that considers the full cost of recovering from Hurricanes Helene and Milton…so Congress can quickly consider supplemental appropriations this year, and affected communities can begin to heal.” The letter reflects growing bipartisan calls for additional funding to help communities recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The storms made landfall on September 27 and October 9, respectively, and devastated communities across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
“The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will require significant additional funding to ensure it has the resources it needs for Hurricane Helene and Milton recovery, and additional federal funding will be required to support states and federal agencies’ emergency response efforts,” the senators write. “Likewise, as communities begin to rebuild, uninterrupted access to key disaster assistance loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is imperative. Agricultural producers will also need financial assistance to help them recover from yet another natural disaster that is further compounding their already tenuous economic situation, and small businesses will need support to help cover the damage to their livelihoods and rebuild, so they can reopen their doors to communities.”
While FEMA’s disaster relief fund received an infusion of $20.3 billion before Congress adjourned for its pre-election recess, it is not clear how long that funding will last. More urgently, the SBA’s disaster loan account, which provides needed financing to help with rebuilding in the wake of a disaster, ran out of money on October 15, although the program is still processing applications to quickly disburse assistance when additional funding is provided by Congress.
Congress will remain recessed until November 12 and will need to move quickly to negotiate a disaster aid package and enact a final funding package for fiscal year (FY) 2025 before December 20, when Congress adjourns for the year. However, there is growing speculation about whether Congress will be able to tackle both projects in such a limited amount of time; some anticipate Congress will pass a disaster package along with a continuing resolution (CR) to maintain federal funding until February or March of next year.
Take Action!
Join an organizational sign-on letter supporting the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act”
The potential disaster aid package represents an opportunity for Congress to enact the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” (RDRA) into law. The RDRA – a priority for NLIHC’s Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition – is a bipartisan bill that would permanently authorize HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, which provides states, tribes, and communities with flexible, long-term recovery resources needed to rebuild affordable housing and infrastructure after a disaster. The bill also provides important safeguards and tools to ensure federal disaster recovery efforts reach all impacted households, including the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors, who often hardest hit and have the fewest resources to recovery
Organizations can join over 500 other organizations from around the country on a sign-on letter from NLIHC, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and Enterprise calling on Congress to enact the RDRA.
Urge Congress to pass a final FY25 spending bill with increased funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs
Regardless of the timing of the disaster aid bill, Congress will need to enact a final FY25 spending bill to ensure federal programs – including HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs – receive increased funding in the coming year. Because the cost of housing and homelessness assistance rises every year, it is crucial that HUD receive increased funding every year to maintain the number of people served. Advocates can use NLIHC’s resources to take action today and push Congress to pass increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness in FY25, including for NLIHC’s top priorities:
- Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and expand assistance to 20,000 more households.
- $6.2 billion for public housing operations and $5.2 billion for public housing capital needs.
- $4.7 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.
- $100 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program.
- At least $1.3 billion for Tribal housing programs, plus $150 million for competitive funds targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
Use NLIHC’s toolkits and resources to take action on FY25 funding, including by:
- Emailing or calling members’ offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources to you, your family, your community, or your work. You can use NLIHC’s Take Action page to look up your member offices or call/send an email directly!
- Sharing stories of those directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability. Storytelling adds emotional weight to your message and can help lawmakers see how their policy decisions impact actual people. Learn about how to tell compelling stories with this resource.
- Using our “Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing” toolkit: This toolkit includes resources, talking points, advocacy ideas, and other helpful information on defending funding for affordable housing and homelessness resources in the FY25 federal budget. Meet with your members and urge them to provide the most possible funding for these vital programs in any final FY25 budget agreement!
National, state, local, tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,300 organizations on CHCDF’s national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY25.