The Disaster Assistance Equity ACT supports the 74 million Americans living in community associations impacted by a presidentially declared natural disaster—flood, hurricane, tornado, wildfire, blizzard, drought, or earthquake. Under current law, community associations that own their own roads and/or facilities are NOT currently afforded the same FEMA recovery resources as other communities even though they pay the same federal taxes.
Owners of Condominiums & Housing Cooperatives: The bill creates access to FEMA funds for repair or replacement of essential major common area elements and facilities such as boiler rooms, elevators, roofs, etc.
Homeowners Associations: The bill creates access to FEMA resources (via the local municipality) for debris removal from privately owned roads within homeowners associations to ensure access in and out of the community for public safety. The bill would provide equal access to disaster recovery services for all homeowners paying local, state, and federal taxes.
On behalf of the 74 million Americans living in 350,000 community associations – also known as homeowners associations, condominiums, or housing cooperatives – we ask that you support the Disaster Equity Assistance Act, which allows community associations to receive disaster relief assistance.
When hurricanes, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, snowstorms, and other natural disasters leave behind debris, homeowner associations and condominiums are left without adequate support. Though homeowners association residents have contributed tax dollars to federal disaster recovery benefits, red tape and bureaucratic technicalities can make it difficult for them to actually receive those benefits.
The Disaster Assistance Equity Act reduces public health and safety concerns by allowing immediate recovery efforts from a catastrophic event. As taxpayers and citizens, community association homeowners deserve assistance and proactive help from the federal government in disaster recovery, which this legislation will provide.
For more information, read CAI's Issue Brief here.