I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 834
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act to provide assistance for common interest communities, condomin-
iums, and housing cooperatives damaged by a major disaster, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2025
Mr. R
OUZER(for himself, Mr. TORRESof New York, Mr. NADLER, and Ms.
P
ETTERSEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to provide assistance for common
interest communities, condominiums, and housing co-
operatives damaged by a major disaster, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Assistance 4
Fairness Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
Section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 2
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122) is 3
amended by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(13) R
ESIDENTIAL COMMON INTEREST COM -5
MUNITY.—The term ‘residential common interest 6
community’ means any nonprofit mandatory mem-7
bership organization comprising owners of real es-8
tate described in a declaration or created pursuant 9
to a covenant or other applicable law with respect to 10
which a person, by virtue of the person’s ownership 11
of a unit, is obligated to pay for a share of real es-12
tate taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance, or im-13
provement of, or services or other expenses related 14
to, common elements, other units, or any other real 15
estate other than that unit described in the declara-16
tion. 17
‘‘(14) C
ONDOMINIUM.—The term ‘condo-18
minium’ means a multi-unit housing project in which 19
each dwelling unit is separately owned, and the re-20
maining portions of the real estate are designated 21
for common ownership solely by the owners of those 22
units, each owner having an undivided interest in 23
the common elements, and which is represented by 24
a condominium association consisting exclusively of 25
all the unit owners in the project, which is, or will 26
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be responsible for the operation, administration, and 1
management of the project. 2
‘‘(15) H
OUSING COOPERATIVE .—The term 3
‘housing cooperative’ means a multi-unit housing en-4
tity in which each dwelling unit is subject to sepa-5
rate use and possession by 1 or more cooperative 6
members whose interest in such unit, and in any un-7
divided assets of the cooperative association that are 8
appurtenant to such unit, is evidenced by a member-9
ship or share interest in a cooperative association 10
and a lease or other document of title or possession 11
granted by such cooperative as the owner of all coop-12
erative property. 13
‘‘(16) M
ANUFACTURED HOUSING COMMU -14
NITY.—The term ‘manufactured housing community’ 15
means a residential development or neighborhood 16
specifically designed for the placement of manufac-17
tured homes, as that term is defined in 24 C.F.R. 18
3280.02, modular homes, prefabricated homes, or 19
any combination of each.’’. 20
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SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF DEBRIS RESULTING FROM A MAJOR 1
DISASTER IN RESIDENTIAL COMMON INTER-2
EST COMMUNITIES. 3
Section 407 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 4
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5173) is 5
amended— 6
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 7
subsections (e) and (f); and 8
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(d) R
ULESRELATING TORESIDENTIALCOMMON 11
I
NTERESTCOMMUNITIES.—The President shall issue 12
rules which provide that removal of debris or wreckage 13
from real estate owned by a residential common interest 14
community, condominium entity, manufactured housing 15
community, or housing cooperative resulting from a major 16
disaster is in the public interest when a State or local gov-17
ernment determines in writing such debris or wreckage 18
constitutes a threat to life, to public health or safety, or 19
to the economic recovery of the residential common inter-20
est community.’’. 21
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SEC. 4. CONDOMINIUMS, MANUFACTURED HOUSING COM-1
MUNITIES, AND HOUSING COOPERATIVES 2
DAMAGED BY A MAJOR DISASTER. 3
Section 408(c)(2)(A) of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-4
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5
5174(c)(2)(A)) is amended— 6
(1) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7
(2) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause (iii); 8
and 9
(3) by adding after clause (i) the following: 10
‘‘(ii) the repair of essential common 11
elements of a condominium, manufactured 12
housing community, or housing cooperative 13
(such as a roof, exterior wall, heating and 14
cooling equipment, elevator, stairwell, util-15
ity access, plumbing, and electricity) pro-16
vided an individual’s or household’s pro 17
rata share of essential common element re-18
pair costs are satisfactorily documented; 19
and’’. 20
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY. 21
The amendments made by this Act shall apply to a 22
major disaster or emergency declared by the President 23
under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-24
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gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) on or after 1
the date of enactment of this Act. 2
Æ
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