Thanks to your advocacy and the work of NLIHC's Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition, the House voted yesterday to approve H.R. 3702, the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019,” by a vote of 290-118!
NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel lauded the House vote in a media statement: “This is an important and long-overdue step towards ensuring that those most likely to be harmed by disasters - low-income and other marginalized people and communities - are prioritized for disaster recovery and mitigation resources. Congress should quickly enact this important legislation, before the next disaster strikes.”
Approval of H.R. 3702 by the House is an important milestone for the NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) of more than 850 local, state, and national organizations working to ensure a complete and equitable disaster recovery for the lowest-income survivors. The DHRC worked closely with Representatives Al Green (D-TX) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) over the past two years to draft and advance this legislation. The bill includes many critical reforms proposed by DHRC members to help ensure that the federal government's long-term disaster recovery program, Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), better serves the lowest-income survivors and their communities.
When enacted, the bill would help target CDBG-DR resources to survivors with the greatest needs, ensure greater data transparency and oversight, protect civil rights and fair housing, and encourage disaster mitigation and resiliency. This strong bill is result of hard work from advocates and key congressional champions, including House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (R-NC), and Representatives Green and Wagner.
With the House bill passed, attention now moves to the Senate, where Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Senator Todd Young (R-IN) have introduced the Senate version of the bill.
For more details on the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, read the DHRC's factsheet.
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