The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) will hold a hearing, “Communities in Crisis: What Happens When Disaster Recovery Funds Are Delayed,” on December 12. Led by Chair Brian Schatz (D-HI), the hearing will examine the impact of delays in the disbursal of disaster recovery funds and explore how Congress can improve the country’s disaster recovery system by permanently authorizing HUD’s long-term recovery program through enactment of the NLIHC-supported “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2023.” The hearing will be held at 10 am ET in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building and broadcast live.
Even after numerous disasters in 2023 – including severe tornado outbreaks across the southern U.S., Hurricane Idalia, flooding and winter storms in California, severe flooding in Vermont, and the catastrophic Maui wildfires in Hawaii – Congress has yet to approve long-term recovery funds through the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program facilitated by HUD. This program is the only source of long-term disaster recovery funds and can be used to pay for vital aspects of disaster recovery, including providing rental assistance to prevent the permanent displacement of impacted households, repairing damaged housing, constructing replacement housing, economic development, and infrastructure repair. Without these funds, communities struggle to keep recovery efforts afloat, with many disaster-impacted households facing permanent displacement and homelessness.
The challenges are exacerbated by the fact that the CDBG-DR program is not permanently authorized, meaning that it only operates when Congress approves funds under the program. This status delays the use of the funds and subjects disaster-impacted communities to long waits for approval. By passing the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2023,” Congress can formally authorize the CDBG-DR program and provide important safeguards to help ensure (1) that funds are made quickly available after disasters so that all impacted survivors and their communities can fully recover; (2) that communities receive assistance fairly, based on need; and (3) that the program prioritizes transparency and oversight over how and where funds are being used.
Witnesses for the hearing will include:
- The Honorable Shaun Donovan, CEO and president of Enterprise Community Partners.
- Jennifer Gray Thompson, founder and CEO of After the Fire USA.
- Ran Reinhard, director of operations at the South Carolina Office of Resilience.
Watch the hearing live at: https://bit.ly/3NiYiIs
Read the NLIHC fact sheet on the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” at: https://bit.ly/47NQNSa