Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Norton for her contributions to this bill. I also want to extend my appreciation to Ranking Member Graves, Chairwoman Titus, Subcommittee Ranking Member Katko, and committee staff for advancing this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, Aaron Davis with the committee has been particularly helpful to my team, my staff, for the past year and a half to get this bill over the line. I know it would have been very difficult without his help and expertise.

Since Hurricanes Maria and Irma devastated the island of Puerto Rico in the fall of 2017, I have visited the island several times, including with some of my congressional colleagues. I have spoken about this with the Congresswoman from Puerto Rico, Miss Gonzalez-Colon, who has command of this issue.

I have seen firsthand how public policy failures, our failures, have manifested on the island. The Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act, which I was proud to introduce with Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, addresses some of these policy failures within the housing assistance programs our government deploys after natural disasters.

Some of these programs' shortcomings have left thousands of Americans in Puerto Rico without the means to rebuild their homes. Our bill aims to fix this. Currently, folks applying for assistance must furnish the deed of their home and/or notarized statements confirming the ownership of their home.

Mr. Speaker, I vividly remember when Hurricane Sandy struck my home State of New York. The last thing people were thinking about as they sought cover was where to find pieces of paper. And I can attest to the hurt of communities in Puerto Rico, Florida, and elsewhere, in the wake of Hurricanes Maria and Irma were devastating.

How can we expect families to find their deeds through rubble, destruction, and pain left by these storms?

I am equally stretched by the idea that in the most vulnerable time and in the wake of destruction, the American Government is asking its citizens to find a notary before they can receive help.

What is more, in places like Puerto Rico, thousands of individuals have no formal documentation, properties and ownership is passed on generation to generation, very often five and six generations. Given all these challenges, we crafted this bipartisan legislation to remove these barriers and establish new and more realistic standards for natural disaster survivors applying for Federal housing assistance.

Along with Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves, my colleagues on the Committee, and Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, I thank Senator Elizabeth Warren, her staff, and the numerous advocates for their tireless efforts in crafting and advancing this legislation over the past 2 years, which is vital if we wish to make the people of Puerto Rico whole again and avoid similar calamities in the future.

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