Short- and long-term housing solutions for disaster-affected residents, police and emergency responders would be improved under a bipartisan bill recently introduced by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA).
“We need a disaster recovery system that looks like it was designed on purpose. The current process involves at least four federal agencies and at least five headaches,” Rep. Graves said. “This legislation solves these inefficiencies and more.”
Rep. Graves on July 19 unveiled the Disaster Survivors Fairness Act of 2022, H.R. 8416, with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) to improve individual assistance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to the text of the bill, which is under consideration by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, and the U.S. House Small Business Committee.
“After a hurricane makes landfall, disaster victims are left to deal with an alphabet soup of federal agencies and each one has their own confusing requirements. Our bill helps to cut through the red tape and recognize that government bureaucracy is the last thing disaster victims need to deal with,” said Rep. Graves. “Folks need to be spending less time filling out forms and more time focusing on their actual recovery.”
If enacted, H.R. 8416 would develop a simple application for federal disaster assistance for individuals in areas impacted by emergencies or major disasters and remove the requirement that households must be rendered uninhabitable by a major disaster to be eligible for hazard mitigation assistance, according to a summary of the bill provided by Rep. Graves’ staff.
Additionally, H.R. 8416 would authorize the president to provide direct assistance to individuals and households if applicants are unable to make use of financial assistance for repairs and when there is a lack of available resources for the repair of owner-occupied residences, the summary says.
The FEMA administrator also would be able to delegate immediate short-term housing solutions to local leaders until the issuance of final regulations, states the summary, and would ensure police, firefighters and other first responders have emergency housing available so they can focus on disaster response and recovery.
“After a disaster, it is often a disjointed process helping folks find housing options. We have individuals or families who lost their houses. There are even law enforcement officers who are still serving their community despite damage to their own homes or property. They need a viable housing option for their families,” said Rep. Graves, adding that H.R. 8416 “would create a one-stop-shop for states to run the housing programs and tailor needs to the communities specific to the disaster.”
The legislation also would make clear that “our parish, sheriff, police, firefighters, and others can take their own initiative to provide emergency housing solutions for law enforcement officers and emergency responders and get reimbursed by FEMA later,” said the congressman.