General Updates Emergency Funding. Late last night, the House Appropriations Committee posted its disaster supplemental spending bill that would provide $36.5 billion in emergency funding for hurricane and wildfire relief and recovery. The bill mirrors the administration’s request and includes $18.7 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, $16 billion for debt relief for the National… Continue reading

HURRICANE HOUSING RECOVERY COALITION On October 10, the Hurricane Housing Recovery Coalition held a congressional briefing on our recommendations for a just, equitable and complete housing recovery from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Chrishelle Palay (Texas Housers), Suzanne Cabrera (Florida Housing Coalition), Patrick Sheridan (Volunteers of America) and Chandra Crawford (NAEH) joined me on a… Continue reading

CONGRESS House and Senate appropriators are beginning to work on the next disaster spending bill, and additional CDBG-DR funding is in the mix. Today, the full Texas congressional delegation (including Senator Cornyn, majority whip) sent a letter to appropriators urging an additional $7 billion in CDBG-DR funding for Texas. They also requested an additional $11+… Continue reading

Congress Congressional Briefing. The Hurricane Housing Recovery Coalition will conduct a Congressional Briefing on Tuesday, October 10 at 10:00 am ET. The briefing will be held in room SVC 210 of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, First St. NE, Washington, DC. After providing an update on federal housing recovery efforts in their communities, the panelists… Continue reading

HURRICANE MARIA IRS IRS Tax Relief. For residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who evacuated or were not able to return because of the hurricanes, IRS Notice 2017-56 provides some relief so these residents do not lose their status as “bona fide residents” of these territories for tax filing and reporting purposes. The… Continue reading