The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and more than 500 national, state, and local organizations have signed onto four NLIHC-led Hurricane Housing Recovery Coalition letters to the White House, Congress, and senior members of FEMA and HUD. These letters urge the government and its organizations to address the “growing humanitarian crisis” in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and to ensure that federal housing recovery and rebuilding efforts are equitable for all affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
“At a time when the health and well-being of millions of Americans are at risk, Congress and the Administration must take swift action,” the letter says.
The letters and their signers urge Congress, the White House, FEMA, and HUD to jump start the recovery process and ensure that the most vulnerable populations in a disaster – low-income individuals and neighborhoods, seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children – receive the assistance they need. In previous disasters these populations and neighborhoods have often been the hardest-hit and the slowest to recover.
They recommend providing significant housing recovery funds, implementing active oversight over federal resource allocation, and establishing a Mission Agreement between FEMA and HUD to create a Disaster Housing Assistance Program.
“It is time for Congress to show bipartisan leadership to make certain that federal disaster recovery resources reach all impacted households, including those with the lowest incomes who are often the hardest hit by disasters and have the fewest resources to recover afterwards,” wrote NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in a recent article about the hurricane housing recovery efforts. “Millions of Americans in desperate need are waiting.”
Read the letters at http://nlihc.org/issues/disaster.
