Senate Passes Schatz’s Bipartisan Bill to Deliver Faster Relief to Disaster Survivors

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate today voted 85-5 to pass a bipartisan housing package which includes the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act. The provision, authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), will help communities recover from major disasters more quickly by establishing a permanent and predictable funding process at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

“Right now, each time a disaster happens, communities in crisis are forced to wait for Congress to pass a disaster funding bill before HUD can help. Our provision changes the law so they no longer have to wait. As soon as a disaster strikes, HUD will be able to help communities begin the process of recovery,” said Senator Schatz.

The provision will accelerate assistance to disaster-impacted communities by:

• Creating a disaster recovery fund to allow HUD to predictably assist communities;
• Authorizing HUD to issue regulations to codify program requirements and reduce unnecessary red tape, delays, and unpredictability that stems from the current process;
• Supporting resilience as a part of – rather than separate from – disaster recovery;
• Authorizing “quick release” funds to support grantee capacity right after an event;
• Improving federal coordination by establishing an office at HUD devoted to disaster recovery and resilience; and
• Reducing unnecessary administrative burdens and interagency requirement conflicts.

The full text of the provision is available here.

###