II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 120
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act to establish a pilot program for the construction of temporary dis-
aster assistance housing, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. C
ASSIDY(for himself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to establish a pilot program for
the construction of temporary disaster assistance hous-
ing, 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 Housing Re-4
form for American Families Act’’. 5
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•S 120 IS
SEC. 2. DISASTER ASSISTANCE HOUSING PILOT PROGRAM. 1
Section 408(c) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-2
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(c)) 3
is amended by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(5) P
ILOT PROGRAM.— 5
‘‘(A) D
EFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 6
‘‘(i) D
ISTRIBUTOR; MANUFACTURED 7
HOME; MANUFACTURER; RETAILER.—The 8
terms ‘distributor’, ‘manufactured home’, 9
‘manufacturer’, and ‘retailer’ have the 10
meanings given those terms in section 603 11
of the National Manufactured Housing 12
Construction and Safety Standards Act of 13
1974 (42 U.S.C. 5402). 14
‘‘(ii) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term 15
‘eligible entity’ means— 16
‘‘(I) a manufacturer, distributor, 17
or retailer of a manufactured home or 18
a modular home; and 19
‘‘(II) a producer of modular 20
housing. 21
‘‘(iii) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘Sec-22
retary’ means the Secretary of Housing 23
and Urban Development, in coordination 24
with the Administrator of the Federal 25
Emergency Management Agency. 26
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‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President 1
shall establish a pilot program under which the 2
President enters into a contract with an eligible 3
entity for the purpose of constructing tem-4
porary housing to serve as a type of housing 5
available to individuals and households under 6
subsection (b)(1). 7
‘‘(C) R
EQUIREMENTS.—Housing con-8
structed pursuant to subparagraph (B) shall— 9
‘‘(i) be in the form of a manufactured 10
or modular housing structure with not 11
more than 4 units; 12
‘‘(ii) be available to individuals and 13
households not later than 90 days (or 120 14
days, upon extension by the Secretary) 15
after the date on which the President de-16
clares a major disaster; 17
‘‘(iii) subject to subparagraph (D)(ii), 18
conform with, as applicable— 19
‘‘(I) construction standards of 20
the National Flood Insurance Pro-21
gram; 22
‘‘(II) standards for new construc-23
tion under the National Manufactured 24
Housing Construction and Safety 25
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Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 1
5401 et seq.); 2
‘‘(III) standards under the most 3
recent or second most recent edition 4
of the International Residential Code; 5
‘‘(IV) applicable building codes in 6
the State, local, or Tribal jurisdiction 7
in which the housing is located; 8
‘‘(V) requirements of the Federal 9
Flood Risk Management Standard of 10
the Federal Emergency Management 11
Agency; 12
‘‘(VI) local zoning ordinances; 13
‘‘(VII) the national technical 14
standard for flood resistant design 15
and construction (ASCE/SEI 24–14); 16
or 17
‘‘(VIII) the manufactured home 18
and construction safety standards 19
under part 3280 of title 24, Code of 20
Regulations, or any successor regula-21
tion; 22
‘‘(iv) reflect the needs of the commu-23
nity in which the housing is constructed 24
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according to the type of major disaster ex-1
perienced by the community; and 2
‘‘(v) provide a minimum level of pro-3
tection against natural hazards for the 4
purpose of protecting the health, safety, 5
and general welfare of the users of the 6
housing against disasters. 7
‘‘(D) P
ERMANENCE; WAIVER.—Housing 8
constructed pursuant to subparagraph (B) 9
may— 10
‘‘(i) have the capacity to become per-11
manent housing after the date on which a 12
major disaster declaration terminates; and 13
‘‘(ii) receive a waiver for a require-14
ment described in subparagraph (C)(iii) 15
from the Secretary. 16
‘‘(E) T
RANSFER GUIDELINES .—The Presi-17
dent, in coordination with the Secretary, shall 18
establish guidelines for the transfer of housing 19
constructed under subparagraph (B) to an es-20
tablished affordable housing program adminis-21
tered by a locality, public housing authority, 22
nonprofit organization, or affordable housing 23
developer after the date on which the disaster 24
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declaration for the major disaster for which the 1
housing is constructed terminates. 2
‘‘(F) T
ERMINATION.—The program estab-3
lished pursuant to subparagraph (B) shall ter-4
minate on the date that is 5 years after the 5
date of enactment of the Disaster Housing Re-6
form for American Families Act. 7
‘‘(6) C
LOSING COSTS.—The President may pro-8
vide financial assistance to individuals or households 9
affected by a major disaster and purchasing a resi-10
dential property for closing costs associated with ob-11
taining a mortgage from a Federal program that 12
provides affordable financing options.’’. 13
Æ
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