GENERAL UPDATES Homeless Education Advocacy Manual. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty released Homeless Education Advocacy Manual: Disaster Edition, a resource guide for families and students displaced by disasters. This is an updated manual that includes information on homeless students’ right to attend the same school. GAO Report on Workforce Management in Public Continue reading

DISASTER HOUSING RECOVERY COALITION In an effort to better organize our disaster housing recovery efforts, NLIHC has created a formal list of members of the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC), which is so far comprised of 220 organizations (excluding the Congressional staff, federal agency staff, and representatives of foundations that join the weekly call-in.) and Continue reading

CONGRESS On November 2, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced a bill to provide affordable housing to survivors of major disasters. Senator Nelson noted in a statement that tens of thousands of people from Puerto Rico have left the island for Florida to find a complete lack of affordable housing options. The bill also provides additional Continue reading

Congress CDBG-DR Hearing. The House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing regarding HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program on November 1. The sole witness was Helen Albert, Acting Inspector General in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for HUD. She warned that excessive waivers Continue reading

Congress Senate Homeland Security Hearing. Today, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held an oversight hearing on the federal response to the recent hurricanes. FEMA Administrator Brock Long, General Donald Jackson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Robert Salesses from the Department of Defense, and Robert Kadlec from the Department of Continue reading