Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act of 2020

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2914, which would help disaster victims verify residency and homeownership following a disaster. When disasters strike, essential property and possessions are often destroyed. Disaster victims may not be able to easily obtain the paperwork needed for them to verify their residency, which delays needed assistance and the recovery process.

This bill is going to clarify how the Federal Emergency Management Agency addresses alternate verification.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico, Miss Gonzalez- Colon, for her work with Mr. Espaillat of New York on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I would urge support of the legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. Mr. Speaker, I thank again my ranking member and his staff for all the help to make this bill able to come to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2914, the Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act. I thank Representative Espaillat for leading this bill with me, to ensure not just people in the Nation, but actually on the island of Puerto Rico, constituents that I do represent here in Congress and those affected by Hurricane Maria have increased flexibility in providing ownership of property when applying for Federal disaster funding. This was a major issue, and actually still is, many times.

FEMA changed the way the documents were going to be accepted. Then they changed it again. And they did that more than five times during the course of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. So at the beginning, no papers were accepted, and then they changed it. So there was a difficult situation for people, even in the center of the island.

The documents that were requested in the north part of the island were different from those in the south, from those in the west, or in the countryside. And that is the reason this bill is so important.

This bill will provide necessary flexibilities in the form of documents that individuals that were residing in the area during the natural disaster got to apply for disaster assistance. Individuals may now use their driver's license, deeds, or title to properties, utilities bills, or any of the 13 forms included in this bill as evidence of occupancy.

In our case, you got many people that were affected. There was no doubt in terms of FEMA or the government that they were affected by the hurricanes, yet they did not have the papers at the time because they lose them because of disaster, and it was so difficult to get the government actually to use or redo those papers in time. So that took almost a year for many of the individuals affected by hurricanes in Puerto Rico just to provide the documents.

As you may know, many of the dates expired. Most of the people didn't qualify then to receive the Federal funds that were available for disaster survivors. That is the reason H.R. 2914 also includes language for a report on the Disaster Housing Assistance Program, and how effective this program is. The Federal Emergency Management Agency decided against using this disaster housing program in Puerto Rico following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, as the agency looks to other efficient programs to more effectively meet the immediate needs of those affected by the two hurricanes.

After those crazy 1 and 2 years, I may say that FEMA is helping and providing and using many of the forms that are now included in this bill to get those funds available. But, again, that can change if we don't have it in law, and that is the reason this bill is so important.

Mr. Speaker, I thank, again, Representatives Espaillat, and leadership on the Committee, as well as my ranking member for supporting this legislation and working with me and my staff to improve this bill for the past year. I urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2914 is going to help speed up the recovery following a disaster by helping disaster victims who have lost their personal records, and likely much more, to verify residency and homeownership. It is a very good piece of legislation, and I would urge support of this, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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