Congressional and Executive Action
The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on June 14 on FEMA’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget proposal. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will be the sole witness.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing on June 14 on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) 2022 “Report on Duplication, Overlap, Fragmentation, and Opportunities to Achieve Financial Benefits.”
Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) introduced on June 6 the “Stay Cool Act” (H.R. 7949), a package of proposals for addressing heat emergencies and expanding research into how extreme heat emergencies can be mitigated. The bill includes several proposals aimed at ensuring that residents of public and subsidized housing can remain safe during periods of severe heat.
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Representative Randy Weber (R-TX) introduced the “Correctional Facility Disaster Preparedness Act.” The bill would require the Bureau of Prisons to provide annual damage assessment reports to Congress on the effects of disasters on those imprisoned by the federal government. The bill would also require that the National Institute of Corrections Advisory Board include a formerly incarcerated individual, an emergency coordinator, and a public health expert.
The White House announced the formation of the “National Initiative to Advance Building Codes” to assist state and local governments in adopting current building codes and standards – including those enabling greater resiliency against hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and other extreme weather events.
FEMA
An investigation by Politico’s E&E News found that FEMA flood elevation grants favored applications from higher income communities. In 12 of 18 states, more than 50% of elevation funding has gone to mostly white or wealthy communities. In four states, more than 75% of funding has gone to such communities.
State and Local
Alaska
FEMA announced that the only mass care emergency shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness in Anchorage would no longer be eligible for FEMA Public Assistance reimbursement beginning June 30. The city’s replacement shelter, which has only half the capacity of the current mass shelter, will not open until this fall.
About 70 Alaska Native villages face erosion, flooding, or melting permafrost at rates that endanger their safety. Communities have struggled to secure help for mitigation measures from the federal government. A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommends providing technical assistance to aid tribes in applying for funding from existing programs.
Kentucky
The Hopkins County Long-Term Recovery Group is making progress on its work in Dawson Springs after the town was struck by tornadoes in 2021. The group plans to build at least 12 homes in the area before Christmas. However, given the degree of displacement in the area following the tornados, staying in contact with disaster survivors is proving difficult.
Louisiana
The public comment period for Louisiana’s “Hurricane Ida Action Plan,” which details the use of federal recovery funds, will be open until June 30. More than $1.27 billion in federal assistance for recovery following Ida will likely be used to address severe housing needs in the hardest-hit areas. Nearly 8,000 families have been residing in trailers provided by the state and FEMA after the hurricane struck nine months ago.
In Bayou Parish, residents are still fighting to receive the assistance they need to recover. “What’s going to happen if people don’t have FEMA or if FEMA denies them?” asked Naija Robinson of Bobtown. “I’m concerned. Is it going to stay this way forever? Is anyone going to come out and help rebuild this community?”
Michigan
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer requested that President Biden declare a major disaster for Otsego County following an EF-3 tornado that hit the area last month. The request comes at the conclusion of an in-depth assessment of damage to the area.
In Inkster, MI, seniors (who are especially vulnerable to disaster impacts) have repeatedly faced flooding – in some cases, more than three times.
Mississippi
In Pascagoula, city leaders and homeowners are pushing for a reevaluation of FEMA’s post-Katrina decision to place 90% of the city into expanded flood zones and prevent homeowners from making repairs.
North Carolina
The North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency announced that it would award an additional $16 million in grants for public housing recovery in eastern North Carolina. The funds will be drawn from the state’s HUD-funded Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program.
New Jersey
Residents of New Jersey are still awaiting federal assistance nine months after Hurricane Ida. Representatives Tom Malinowksi (D-NJ) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) both attended a rally held by survivors at the statehouse in Trenton.
New Mexico
Fires in New Mexico continue to burn, with three firefighters being injured by the release of water from a helicopter fighting the Calf Canyon fire last week. So far, the largest blaze has charred close to 500 square miles of land and proved devastating for thousands of residents.
As coronavirus cases surge in New Mexico, COVID-19 is also spreading among evacuees, despite aid workers providing masks and reminding shelter residents to wear them in shelters, where windows have been closed windows to prevent smoke infiltration. According to reports, however, many aid workers themselves have not been wearing masks.
New York
A state bill requiring flood-risk disclosures for rental units is poised to move forward in the New York legislature. The bill is part of a long-stalled effort to require flood-risk disclosures for purchased properties and rentals. Although little open opposition to the measure exists, pressure to oppose the bill has likely come from members of the real estate industry, some of whom oppose the removal of a New York law providing a $500 credit to homebuyers who elect not to inquire about the flood history of their purchase.
Oregon
A South Oregon RV park has now reopened to the public 18 months after devastating wildfires struck the state and the park was selected as a site for emergency housing. FEMA offers assistance for only 18 months following a disaster, and the families evacuated to the park have now been relocated to other housing sites, according to local officials, though the locations of those sites are unknown.
Ohio
Members of the Miami Valley Long-Term Recovery Operations Group have published an op-ed addressing their work combatting generational poverty through homeownership in the aftermath of the severe tornadoes that struck Dayton in 2019.
Texas
Will Wheaton, advocacy director for Texas Housers (a partner of the NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition) appeared on Texas politics podcast “Y’all-itics” to discuss how the state government created a discriminatory system to distribute mitigation funds.
U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI)
Shaun Pennington published an article in The St. Thomas Source addressing the affordable housing crisis in the USVI. Part 1 of the article deals with the impacts on affordable housing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which struck in 2017.
Resources and Reporting
A story in Government Technology deals with the ways technology helps local governments improve resiliency.
A piece in Architectural Record explores questions about the policy of “managed retreat.”