The long journey for the bipartisan-created 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, designed to address a number of America’s affordable housing issues, has finally passed and become law on July 11.
The bill includes many measures meant to address the shortage of affordable and available homes, including increased home construction, establishing a pilot program to expand access to mortgages under $100,000 backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and lifting the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program cap by 100,000 units.
While of its many aspects focus on increasing the general supply of housing or availability of financing, there are a few pieces that will dramatically help low-income individuals and families. In particular, the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act (RDRA) will speed up timelines to make essential funding available in the wake of an extreme weather or natural event.
The RDRA officially authorizes HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program for three years and reforms the program to better address the needs of low- to moderate-income households following major disasters. CDBG-DR is the primary source of long-term recovery funding for households who have experienced a disaster, while FEMA manages short term, immediate disaster relief.
Prior to this legislation, congress would have to pass a bill to appropriate new funding and HUD would have to write new program rules each time a disaster occurred, creating several delays for families and individuals who could not afford to wait to become whole again. These wait periods acted as major financial burdens for those who are forced into hotels, doubled up with family and friends away from their jobs, or simply living in dilapidated or damaged housing.
Families across Texas have been negatively affected by these delays after recent disasters such as Hurricane Harvey, the 2021 Winter Storm, and Hurricane Beryl. By having this money already available without the need of a new appropriation, the rollout to disaster survivors can be streamlined and delivered more quickly.
We at Texas Housers have witnessed first hand what accessing these funds can do to help a household trying to become whole again, as well as what delays can do to a family’s financial and overall stability. We are encouraged to see bipartisan support turn into real change for low-income households in Texas and we challenge our elected leaders to keep pushing for equitable recovery for all Texans.
