Public Housing Disaster Relief Act of 2008

PUBLIC HOUSING DISASTER RELIEF ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 18, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise also to salute the two newest members of this committee for introducing this legislation.

This legislation, the Public Housing Disaster Relief Act of 2008, will strike section 9(k) of the U.S. Housing Act and clarify the funding structure of public housing authorities in the wake of disasters.

Just 2 weeks ago, the Financial Services Committee and Homeland Security Committee held a joint hearing to examine the housing conditions of individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. During this hearing, the testimony provided by the FEMA and HUD witnesses revealed that there is confusion between the two agencies over who is responsible for providing disaster recovery funds to public housing authorities that are damaged by disasters.

[Time: 15:00]

A number of public housing authorities received significant damage, Mr. Speaker, during Hurricane Katrina. But these housing authorities did not receive any funds from the 9(k) account because there simply were not any funds available.

Public housing authorities did receive some assistance from the Public Housing Capital Fund Emergency Needs Account, but the funds were quickly exhausted and left many housing authorities without the resources they needed to repair their units.

In total, Mr. Speaker, only $29 million was made available to the housing authorities along the gulf coast. If you are familiar with the degree of devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and Rita, you know this was not enough.

H.R. 6276 will eliminate an account that has historically been underused and clarify the funding structure by making it clear to FEMA that public housing authorities are eligible for Stafford Act assistance.

I urge the passage of this important legislation, Mr. Speaker.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source