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Congressional Black Caucus Introduces Hurricane Relief Bill

On November 2, the 42 House members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) introduced H.R. 4197, the Hurricane Katrina Recovery, Reclamation, Restoration, Reconstruction and Reunion Act of 2005. The two key objectives of the bill are to fully restore the Gulf Coast and to reunite residents of the affected areas with their families.

The far-reaching bill has twelve titles, covering a victim restoration fund, provisions on the environment, health, housing and community rebuilding, education, financial services, voting rights, taxes, small business, bankruptcy and the eradication of poverty.

Authorization amounts would be increased for several housing programs including an additional $100 million to public housing operating funds, $100 million to the HOPE VI program, $1 billion to HOME, $1 billion to the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), $10 million to Section 108 Loan Guarantee Funds, $200 million to Youthbuild, $4.5 to HUD Demonstration Act Funds, $10 million to fair housing enforcement and $10 million to housing counseling for families in temporary shelter. All of these new funds would remain available until expended and would be used only for activities conducted in Presidentially-declared disaster areas. The bill also would require any unobligated funds appropriated to HUD programs in fiscal years 2003-2005 to remain available for emergencies or other disasters until expended.

The bill would authorize $3.5 billion for 300,000 new Section 8 tenant-based rental vouchers for families that would otherwise be eligible for the Section 8 program. These vouchers could be administered by faith-based organizations and community development corporations that have access to housing units. Additionally, the bill prohibits placement of evacuee households in substandard housing.

H.R. 4197 was referred to the House Committees on Ways and Means, Judiciary, Financial Services, Energy and Commerce, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and the Workforce, Small Business, Government Reform, and the Budget, for a period to be determined by the Speaker of the House, in each case for consideration of provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee.