I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5393 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 16, 2006 

Mr. BAKER (for himself and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 

and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

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’’ means any assistance 

10 that is provided to individuals, families, or households to 

11 respond to disaster-related housing needs of individuals, 

12 families, or households who are displaced from their 

13 predisaster primary residences or whose predisaster pri14 mary residences are rendered uninhabitable as a result of 

15 damage caused by a major disaster pursuant to— 

16 (1) the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

17 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et 

18 seq.)); or 

19 (2) any other provision of law specifically pro20 viding funds or assistance in connection with a 

21 major disaster. 

22 Such term includes financial assistance, the provision of 

23 temporary, transitional, and permanent housing units, as24 sistance for repair, replacement, and construction of housVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:32 May 20, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5393.IH H5393

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1 ing units, technical assistance, and any other form or type 

2 of housing assistance. 

3 (f) DETERMINATION OF LONG-TERM HOUSING

4 NEEDS.—Section 408(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Dis5 aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 5174) is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para8 graph (3); and 

9 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol10 lowing new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF AREAS FOR WHICH

12 DISASTER RESULTS IN LONG-TERM HOUSING

13 NEEDS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) STATE REQUEST.—After the occur15 rence and declaration of a major disaster, the 

16 Governor of a State containing any area that is 

17 subject to the declaration by the President of 

18 such major disaster may request the President 

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

20 in the State, that the disaster will result in 

21 long-term housing needs. 

22 ‘‘(B) STANDARD.—Upon a request pursu23 ant to subparagraph (A), the President shall 

24 determine whether to grant such request. The 

25 President shall grant such a request and deterVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:32 May 20, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5393.IH H5393

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1 mine that the major disaster will result in long2 term housing needs with respect to an area if 

3 the President finds that the disaster will dis4 place individuals or households in the area from 

5 their predisaster primary residences, or will 

6 render such predisaster primary residences in 

7 the area uninhabitable, for a period of 30 days 

8 or more.’’. 

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

10 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As11 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174), as amended by subsection 

12 (f) of this section, is further amended by adding at the 

13 end the following new paragraph: 

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

15 with section 2 of the Natural Disaster Housing Re16 form Act of 2006, in the case of any area for which 

17 any major disaster is determined, pursuant to para18 graph (2), to result in long-term housing needs, the 

19 President shall carry out the functions under this 

20 section relating to housing assistance, including this 

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

22 through the Secretary of Housing and Urban Devel23 opment.’’. 

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

25 amendments made by this section may not be construed 


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1 to affect, alter, limit, or decrease the authority of the Di2 rector of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 

3 the overall coordination of assistance and relief with re4 spect to a major disaster. 

5 SEC. 3. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS AND 

6 HOUSEHOLDS. 

7 Section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

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

9 amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (b)— 

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

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

13 end the following: 

14 ‘‘(C) MANUFACTURED MODULAR HOUS15 ING.—In making any determination of cost ef16 fectiveness under subparagraph (A), the Presi17 dent shall consider whether or not manufac18 tured modular housing can be provided to an 

19 individual or household at a cost to the Govern20 ment that is less than the same cost necessary 

21 to provide other readily fabricated dwellings.’’; 

22 and 

23 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

24 paragraphs: 

25 ‘‘(5) CONSENT OF OWNER.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para2 graph (2), the President shall seek the consent 

3 of each individual or household prior to pro4 viding such individual or household with manu5 factured modular housing assistance. 

6 ‘‘(B) REJECTION OF MANUFACTURED

7 MODULAR HOUSING ASSISTANCE.—If an indi8 vidual or household does not provide consent 

9 under subparagraph (A), such individual or 

10 household shall remain eligible for any other as11 sistance available under this section. 

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

13 section shall be construed to prevent an individual or 

14 household from contributing, in addition to any as15 sistance provided under this section, such sums as 

16 are necessary in order to obtain manufactured mod17 ular housing that is of greater size or quality than 

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

19 (2) in subsection (c)— 

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

21 ‘‘the amount of any security deposit for the 

22 accomodation, the amount of any utility fees as23 sociated with the accomodation, and’’ after 

24 ‘‘plus’’; 

25 (B) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

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

3 and inserting ‘‘(i)(I)’’; 

4 (II) by redesignating clause (ii) 

5 as subparagraph (II); and 

6 (III) by adding at the end the 

7 following new clause: 

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

9 living or functioning condition, of existing 

10 rental units that, upon such repair, will be 

11 used as alternate housing accomodations 

12 for individuals or households described in 

13 paragraph (1).’’; 

14 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

15 (I) by striking ‘‘this paragraph’’ 

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

17 and 

18 (II) by inserting ‘‘not’’ after 

19 ‘‘can’’; and 

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

21 ‘‘this paragraph’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara22 graph (A)(i)’’; and 

23 (C) in paragraph (4)— 


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1 (i) in the paragraph heading, by in2 serting ‘‘OR SEMI-PERMANENT’’ after 

3 ‘‘PERMANENT’’; 

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

5 after ‘‘permanent’’; 

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

7 inserting the following: ‘‘in— 

8 ‘‘(A) insular areas’’; 

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

10 and inserting ‘‘(i) no alternative’’ and ad11 justing the margin accordingly; 

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

13 ‘‘(ii)’’ and adjusting the margin accord14 ingly; 

15 (vi) by striking the period at the end 

16 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (vii) by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(B) any area in which the President de20 clared a major disaster or emergency in connec21 tion with Hurricane Katrina of 2005 during the 

22 period beginning on August 28, 2005, and end23 ing on December 31, 2007.’’; 

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

25 the following: 


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

2 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in3 cluding section 9 of title 44, Code of Federal 

4 Regulations (or any corresponding similar regu5 lation or ruling), any permanent, semi-perma6 nent, or temporary housing provided under this 

7 section, including any readily fabricated dwell8 ing, manufactured housing, or manufactured 

9 modular housing, may be located in any area 

10 identified by the Director as an area having 

11 special flood hazards under section 102 of the 

12 Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 

13 U.S.C. 4012a)). 

14 ‘‘(D) INDIVIDUAL SITES FOR MANUFAC15 TURED MODULAR HOUSING.—Manufactured 

16 modular housing made available under this sec17 tion— 

18 ‘‘(i) shall, whenever practicable, be lo19 cated on a site that is a discrete and sepa20 rate parcel of land; and 

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

22 that— 

23 ‘‘(I) is managed by the Director; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(II) contains 3 or more other 

2 manufactured modular housing 

3 units.’’; and 

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

5 ‘‘(j) EVACUATION PLANS.—The Director, in con6 sultation with the Governor of each State and the heads 

7 of such units of local government as the Director may de8 termine, shall develop and maintain detailed and com9 prehensive mass evacuation plans for individuals or house10 holds receiving assistance under this section for the 18- 

11 month period beginning on the date of the declaration of 

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

Æ 


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