II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2983 

To provide for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to coordinate Federal housing assistance efforts in the case of disasters resulting 

in long-term housing needs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23, 2006 

Ms. LANDRIEU introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to coordinate Federal housing assistance efforts 

in the case of disasters resulting in long-term housing 

needs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Natural Disaster 

5 Housing Reform Act of 2006’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. HUD AS LEAD AGENCY IN CASES OF DISASTERS RE2 SULTING IN LONG-TERM HOUSING NEEDS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the policy of the United 

4 States that the Department of Housing and Urban Devel5 opment shall be primary Federal agency responsible for 

6 coordinating and administering housing assistance in con7 nection with any major disaster (as such term is defined 

8 in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

9 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)) for any 

10 area that, pursuant to section 408(b)(2) of such Act, is 

11 determined to be an area for which such disaster will re12 sult in long-term housing needs. 

13 (b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of Housing and 

14 Urban Development shall, in coordinating and admin15 istering housing assistance pursuant to subsection (a), 

16 consult with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Di17 rector of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

18 and such other heads of Federal agencies as may be ap19 propriate. 

20 (c) USE OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL OFFICES.—In co21 ordinating and administering housing assistance pursuant 

22 to subsection (a), the Secretary of Housing and Urban De23 velopment shall utilize staff and other resources of appro24 priate regional, field, and area offices of the Department 

25 and consult and coordinate with appropriate State and 

26 local housing agencies. 


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1 (d) PREPAREDNESS.—The Secretary of Housing and 

2 Urban Development shall take such actions as may be nec3 essary to ensure that officers and staff of the Department 

4 at headquarters, regional, field, and area offices at all 

5 times have the capability, capacity, training, and resources 

6 necessary to carry out the responsibilities under sub7 section (a). 

8 (e) HOUSING ASSISTANCE.—For purposes of this sec9 tion, the term ‘‘housing assistance’’— 

10 (1) means any assistance that is provided to in11 dividuals, families, or households to respond to dis12 aster-related housing needs of individuals, families, 

13 or households who are displaced from their 

14 predisaster primary residences or whose predisaster 

15 primary residences are rendered uninhabitable as a 

16 result of damage caused by a major disaster pursu17 ant to— 

18 (A) the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

19 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 

20 et seq.)); or 

21 (B) any other provision of law specifically 

22 providing funds or assistance in connection with 

23 a major disaster; and 

24 (2) includes— 

25 (A) financial assistance; 


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1 (B) the provision of temporary, transi2 tional, and permanent housing units; 

3 (C) assistance for repair, replacement, and 

4 construction of housing units; 

5 (D) technical assistance; and 

6 (E) any other form or type of housing as7 sistance. 

8 (f) DETERMINATION OF LONG-TERM HOUSING

9 NEEDS.—Section 408(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Dis10 aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

11 5174(b)) is amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para13 graph (3); and 

14 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol15 lowing new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF AREAS FOR WHICH

17 DISASTER RESULTS IN LONG-TERM HOUSING

18 NEEDS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) STATE REQUEST.—After the occur20 rence and declaration of a major disaster, the 

21 Governor of a State containing any area that is 

22 subject to the declaration by the President of 

23 such major disaster may request the President 

24 to determine, for all or any part of such area 


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1 in the State, that the disaster will result in 

2 long-term housing needs. 

3 ‘‘(B) STANDARD.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Upon a request 

5 pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Presi6 dent shall determine whether to grant such 

7 request. 

8 ‘‘(ii) FINDINGS.—The President shall 

9 grant such a request and determine that 

10 the major disaster will result in long-term 

11 housing needs with respect to an area if 

12 the President finds that the disaster will 

13 displace individuals or households in the 

14 area from their predisaster primary resi15 dences, or will render such predisaster pri16 mary residences in the area uninhabitable, 

17 for a period of 30 days or more.’’. 

18 (g) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 408(b) of 

19 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As20 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(b)), as amended by sub21 section (f) of this section, is amended by adding at the 

22 end the following: 

23 ‘‘(4) HUD ADMINISTRATION.—In accordance 

24 with section 2 of the Natural Disaster Housing Re25 form Act of 2006, in the case of any area for which 


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1 any major disaster is determined to result in long2 term housing needs pursuant to paragraph (2), the 

3 President shall carry out the functions under this 

4 section relating to housing assistance, including this 

5 subsection and subsections (c) and (d), acting 

6 through the Secretary of Housing and Urban Devel7 opment.’’. 

8 (h) SAVINGS PROVISION.—This section and the 

9 amendments made by this section may not be construed 

10 to affect, alter, limit, or decrease the authority of the Di11 rector of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 

12 the overall coordination of assistance and relief with re13 spect to a major disaster. 

14 SEC. 3. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS AND 

15 HOUSEHOLDS. 

16 Section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

17 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) is 

18 amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (b)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (3) (as so redesignated 

21 by section 2(f)(1) of this Act), by adding at the 

22 end the following: 

23 ‘‘(C) MANUFACTURED MODULAR HOUS24 ING.—In making any determination of cost ef25 fectiveness under subparagraph (A), the PresiVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:24 May 25, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2983.IS S2983

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1 dent shall consider whether or not manufac2 tured modular housing can be provided to an 

3 individual or household at a cost to the Govern4 ment that is less than the same cost necessary 

5 to provide other readily fabricated dwellings.’’; 

6 and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(5) CONSENT OF OWNER.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para10 graph (2)(C), the President shall seek the con11 sent of each individual or household prior to 

12 providing such individual or household with 

13 manufactured modular housing assistance. 

14 ‘‘(B) REJECTION OF MANUFACTURED

15 MODULAR HOUSING ASSISTANCE.—If an indi16 vidual or household does not provide consent 

17 under subparagraph (A), such individual or 

18 household shall remain eligible for any other as19 sistance available under this section. 

20 ‘‘(6) OWNER CONTRIBUTION.—Nothing in this 

21 section shall be construed to prevent an individual or 

22 household from contributing, in addition to any as23 sistance provided under this section, such sums as 

24 are necessary in order to obtain manufactured modVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:24 May 25, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2983.IS S2983

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1 ular housing that is of greater size or quality than 

2 that provided by the President under this section.’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (c)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), by inserting 

5 ‘‘the amount of any security deposit for the ac6 commodation, the amount of any utility fees as7 sociated with the accommodation, and’’ after 

8 ‘‘plus’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

11 (I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘(i)’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘(i)(I)’’; 

13 (II) by redesignating clause (ii) 

14 as subparagraph (II); and 

15 (III) by adding at the end the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(ii) the repair, to a safe and sanitary 

18 living or functioning condition, of existing 

19 rental units that, upon such repair, will be 

20 used as alternate housing accommodations 

21 for individuals or households described in 

22 paragraph (1).’’; 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 


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1 (I) by striking ‘‘this paragraph’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (A)(i)’’; 

3 and 

4 (II) by inserting ‘‘not’’ after 

5 ‘‘can’’; and 

6 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

7 ‘‘this paragraph’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara8 graph (A)(i)’’; and 

9 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

10 (i) in the paragraph heading, by in11 serting ‘‘OR SEMI-PERMANENT’’ after 

12 ‘‘PERMANENT’’; 

13 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or semi-permanent’’ 

14 after ‘‘permanent’’; 

15 (iii) by striking ‘‘in insular areas’’ and 

16 inserting the following: ‘‘in— 

17 ‘‘(A) insular areas’’; 

18 (iv) by striking ‘‘(A) no alternative’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘(i) no alternative’’ and ad20 justing the margin accordingly; 

21 (v) by striking ‘‘(B)’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘(ii)’’ and adjusting the margin accord23 ingly; 

24 (vi) by striking the period at the end 

25 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (vii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(B) any area in which the President de4 clared a major disaster or emergency in connec5 tion with Hurricane Katrina of 2005 during the 

6 period beginning on August 28, 2005, and end7 ing on December 31, 2007.’’; 

8 (3) in subsection (d)(1), by adding at the end 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘(C) SITES LOCATED IN A FLOODPLAIN.— 

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in12 cluding section 9 of title 44, Code of Federal 

13 Regulations (or any corresponding similar regu14 lation or ruling), any permanent, semi-perma15 nent, or temporary housing provided under this 

16 section, including any readily fabricated dwell17 ing, manufactured housing, or manufactured 

18 modular housing, may be located in any area 

19 identified by the Director as an area having 

20 special flood hazards under section 102 of the 

21 Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 

22 U.S.C. 4012a)). 

23 ‘‘(D) INDIVIDUAL SITES FOR MANUFAC24 TURED MODULAR HOUSING.—Manufactured 


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1 modular housing made available under this sec2 tion— 

3 ‘‘(i) shall, whenever practicable, be lo4 cated on a site that is a discrete and sepa5 rate parcel of land; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) may not be located on a site 

7 that— 

8 ‘‘(I) is managed by the Director; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(II) contains 3 or more other 

11 manufactured modular housing 

12 units.’’; and 

13 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(j) EVACUATION PLANS.—The Director, in con15 sultation with the Governor of each State and the heads 

16 of such units of local government as the Director may de17 termine, shall develop and maintain detailed and com18 prehensive mass evacuation plans for individuals or house19 holds receiving assistance under this section for the 18- 

20 month period beginning on the date of the declaration of 

21 the disaster for which such assistance is provided.’’. 

Æ 


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