II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3889 

To enhance housing and emergency assistance to victims of Hurricanes 

Katrina, Rita, and Wilma of 2005, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2006 

Mr. FEINGOLD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

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

A BILL 

To enhance housing and emergency assistance to victims 

of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma of 2005, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Gulf Coast Housing 

5 Accessibility Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROJECT-BASED VOUCHERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

8 Urban Development (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec9 retary’’) shall allocate additional assistance for project10 based housing vouchers under section 8(o)(13) of the 


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1 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

2 1437f(o)(13)) for individuals and households located with3 in the area in which assistance to individuals has been au4 thorized by the President under a declaration of a major 

5 disaster under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

6 Emergency Assistance Act, as a consequence of Hurricane 

7 Katrina, Rita, or Wilma of 2005. 

8 (b) AUTHORIZED USES.—The Secretary shall make 

9 funds available under this section for project-based vouch10 ers used to support— 

11 (1) affordable housing in repaired or rebuilt 

12 housing that has been damaged or destroyed as a 

13 consequence of Hurricane Katrina, Rita, or Wilma 

14 of 2005; or 

15 (2) to support affordable housing in new hous16 ing structures in the affected areas created under 

17 the low income housing tax credit under section 42 

18 or section 1400N(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

19 1986. 

20 (c) FUNDS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of amounts authorized 

22 under this section, funds shall be made available for 

23 4,500 project-based vouchers for— 

24 (A) support of housing units for persons, 

25 including adults and children, with disabilities; 


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1 (B) elderly families; and 

2 (C) individuals and families who were 

3 homeless prior to the occurrence of the disaster. 

4 (2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this subsection: 

5 (A) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ 

6 has the same meaning as in section 422(2) of 

7 the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 11382(2)). 

9 (B) HOMELESS.—The term ‘‘homeless’’ 

10 has the same meaning as the term ‘‘homeless 

11 children and youths’’ as defined in section 

12 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless As13 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)), except that 

14 such term shall also include any adult indi15 vidual who is homeless. 

16 (d) REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

17 shall award the project-based vouchers authorized under 

18 this section to a State agency designated by the Governor 

19 of the State, upon submission of a request to the Sec20 retary, in such form and containing such information as 

21 the Secretary may require. If a State agency is unable to 

22 provide such a request, a local housing agency may submit 

23 the request for funds to implement project-based vouchers 

24 under this section. If a State agency enters into an agree25 ment with 1 or more local housing agencies to transfer 


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1 the administration of vouchers after commitment to a par2 ticular development, the Secretary shall make the appro3 priate transfer. 

4 (e) EXEMPTION FROM CERTAIN LIMITATIONS.—The 

5 limitation provided for in section 8(o)(13)(B) of the 

6 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

7 1437f(o)(13)(B)) shall not apply to the project-based 

8 vouchers allocated and administered under this section. 

9 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

11 appropriated to the Secretary $200,000,000 for pur12 poses of allocating and administering project-based 

13 assistance under section 8(o)(13) of the United 

14 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

15 1437f(o)(13)), which shall remain available until ex16 pended. 

17 (2) PURPOSE.—Such funds are authorized for 

18 the purpose of ensuring that 25 percent of the units 

19 created, repaired, or refurbished under the low in20 come housing tax credit under section 42 or section 

21 1400N(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, are 

22 affordable to very low-income and extremely low-in23 come individuals and households. 


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1 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall become ef2 fective upon appropriation of the necessary funds to carry 

3 out this section. 

4 (h) OFFSET.—Section 843(a) of title 18, United 

5 states Code, is amended by— 

6 (1) inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; and 

7 (2) adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General shall collect a user fee 

9 from each licensee under this section of $0.02 per pound 

10 for any commercial, non-military explosive material manu11 factured in or imported into the United States by that 

12 licensee.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. FEMA HOUSING ASSISTANCE. 

14 (a) AMENDMENTS TO STAFFORD DISASTER RELIEF

15 AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE ACT.—Section 408(c)(1) 

16 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

17 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(c)(1)) is amended— 

18 (1) in the paragraph heading, by inserting 

19 ‘‘SEMIPERMANENT, AND PERMANENT’’ after ‘‘TEM20 PORARY’’; and 

21 (2) in subparagraph (B) 

22 (A) in clause (i)— 

23 (i) by inserting ‘‘semipermanent, and 

24 permanent’’ after ‘‘temporary’’; and 


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1 (ii) by inserting ‘‘subject to certain 

2 conditions outlined below’’ after ‘‘units’’; 

3 (B) by redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii) 

4 as clauses (iii) and (iv), respectively; and 

5 (C) by inserting after clause (i) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(ii) CONDITIONS FOR PROVIDING

8 TEMPORARY, SEMIPERMANENT, AND PER9 MANENT HOUSING UNITS.— 

10 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—When deter11 mining whether to provide temporary, 

12 semipermanent, or permanent housing 

13 under clause (i), the President shall 

14 examine certain conditions, includ15 ing— 

16 ‘‘(aa) the relative cost effi17 ciency of providing the housing 

18 units; 

19 ‘‘(bb) the likelihood that in20 dividuals and families will be liv21 ing in Federal Emergency Man22 agement Agency (in this subpara23 graph referred to as ‘FEMA’) as24 sisted housing longer than 3 to 6 

25 months, due to the scope of the 


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1 disaster where individuals and 

2 households are located; 

3 ‘‘(cc) the potential benefits 

4 of providing housing that will 

5 help to restore permanent hous6 ing stock lost as a result of the 

7 disaster; and 

8 ‘‘(dd) any other conditions 

9 that the President deems nec10 essary to examine, depending on 

11 the scope of the disaster and the 

12 subsequent rebuilding and recov13 ery process. 

14 ‘‘(II) MEETING NEEDS.—When 

15 providing temporary, semipermanent, 

16 or permanent housing units under 

17 clause (i), the President shall ensure 

18 that— 

19 ‘‘(aa) an adequate share of 

20 the housing units will be deployed 

21 to meet the needs of predisaster 

22 renters, especially low-income 

23 households; 


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1 ‘‘(bb) that the deployment of 

2 the housing units will minimize 

3 the concentration of poverty; 

4 ‘‘(cc) that an adequate share 

5 of the housing units is accessible 

6 for persons with disabilities, as 

7 that term is defined in section 

8 422(2) of the McKinney-Vento 

9 Homeless Assistance Act (42 

10 U.S.C. 11382(2)); and 

11 ‘‘(dd) the housing units will 

12 be placed within a reasonable dis13 tance from needed services, such 

14 as access to transportation, em15 ployment opportunities, health 

16 care facilities, schools, day care 

17 services, and financial and em18 ployment counseling.’’. 

19 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend20 ments made by this section shall apply with respect to in21 dividuals and households affected— 

22 (1) by a disaster to which section 408(c)(1) of 

23 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer24 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(c)(1)) would 


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1 otherwise apply, occurring on or after the date of en2 actment of this Act; and 

3 (2) by the consequences of Hurricanes Katrina, 

4 Rita, and Wilma of 2005. 

5 SEC. 4. TRANSFER OF TEMPORARY RENTAL ASSISTANCE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Federal 

7 Emergency Management Agency (in this section referred 

8 to as the ‘‘Director’’ and ‘‘FEMA’’, respectively) shall 

9 enter into a mission assignment with the Secretary to 

10 transfer adequate funds from FEMA Disaster Relief 

11 Funds into the Disaster Voucher Program at the Depart12 ment of Housing and Urban Development in order to fully 

13 implement subsection (b). 

14 (b) TRANSFERS.—The Director shall ensure that the 

15 following individuals and households are transferred into 

16 the Disaster Voucher Program: 

17 (1) Individuals and households receiving assist18 ance through FEMA’s transitional housing program 

19 authorized under section 408 of the Robert T. Staf20 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

21 (42 U.S.C. 5174) . 

22 (2) Individuals and households receiving assist23 ance through— 


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1 (A) rental assistance programs adminis2 tered through State and local voucher programs 

3 that receive reimbursement from FEMA; or 

4 (B) any other program authorized under 

5 section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

6 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 5170b). 

8 (c) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—FEMA 

9 shall work with State and local governments, as well as 

10 private entities providing services, to ensure that proper 

11 notice and assistance is provided to individuals and house12 holds, while the transfer under this section is completed. 

13 (d) OPT-OUT PROVISION.—Individuals and families 

14 receiving FEMA housing assistance under subsection (b) 

15 may opt-out of the transfer to the Disaster Voucher Pro16 gram authorized in subsection (a). 

17 (e) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply with re18 spect to individuals and households affected— 

19 (1) by a disaster occurring on or after the date 

20 of enactment of this Act; and 

21 (2) by the consequences of Hurricanes Katrina, 

22 Rita, and Wilma of 2005. 

Æ 


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