Sponsors (2)
Adds housing-type definitions and directs the President to consider debris removal in condos, co-ops, manufactured home parks, and common-interest communities to be in the public interest when a state/local written finding shows threats to life, health/safety, or economic recovery.
Official title: To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to provide assistance for common interest communities, condominiums, and housing cooperatives damaged by a major disaster, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 1, 2025 by W. Greg Steube · Last progress December 1, 2025
The bill clarifies which common‑interest and manufactured‑home dwellings are covered and lets federal authorities remove hazardous debris from private residential lots to speed recovery, but it risks excluding some nonconforming housing, raising FEMA costs and taxpayer exposure, creating possible federal‑private conflicts, and producing uneven outcomes across jurisdictions, with changes limited to future disaster declarations.
Homeowners and renters in condos, co-ops, common‑interest communities, and manufactured‑home parks gain clearer federal authority to have debris on private residential units removed after a major disaster when local officials determine it threatens life, health, safety, or economic recovery, speeding cleanup and reducing immediate public‑health risks.
Owners, residents, and emergency planners get clearer statutory definitions for condos, co‑ops, common‑interest communities, and manufactured‑home parks, improving eligibility clarity for FEMA/Stafford Act programs and helping state/local governments and emergency planners identify covered housing during declarations and recovery planning.
State and local governments and federal implementers get temporal certainty because the rule changes apply only to disasters declared after enactment, avoiding retroactive changes to past recovery actions and easing federal implementation.
Renters, low‑income households, and owners of atypical or nonconforming housing arrangements risk being excluded from certain Stafford Act benefits if their housing does not meet the new, narrower statutory definitions.
Taxpayers and FEMA program budgets could face higher costs because expanding federal debris removal to private residential lots (condos, co‑ops, manufactured home parks) increases federal spending and may require reallocating funds or raising taxpayer contributions.
Homeowners in common‑interest communities may see federal intervention in private property cleanup decisions that can conflict with HOA rules or owner preferences, reducing local control over private property decisions.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Directs the President to treat debris removal from units in condominiums, housing cooperatives, manufactured home parks, and other residential common interest communities as in the public interest for Stafford Act disaster debris removal when a state or local government provides a written determination that the debris threatens life, health, safety, or economic recovery. Adds statutory definitions for residential common interest community, condominium, housing cooperative, and manufactured home park, and makes the change effective only for major disaster or emergency declarations issued on or after enactment.