Sponsors (11)
The bill extends FEMA assistance to condominiums, cooperatives, and manufactured‑home communities—reducing individual costs and speeding recovery for many residents—but increases federal spending and creates allocation, administrative, and equity risks that could delay or unevenly distribute aid.
Homeowners and residents of condominiums, cooperatives, and manufactured‑home communities would gain explicit Stafford Act coverage, making them eligible for FEMA disaster assistance and recovery programs.
Residents (owners and renters) in these shared residential communities would become eligible for federally supported debris removal when state/local officials certify threats, improving public health and speeding community recovery after disasters.
Associations and households in condos/co‑ops/manufactured‑home communities could qualify for federal help to repair common or essential shared systems (roofs, HVAC, elevators, utilities), reducing out‑of‑pocket costs for unit owners and speeding return to habitability.
Renters and low‑income residents in shared communities may still receive uneven or indirect benefits—aid routed to associations combined with pro rata payment requirements could leave some households unable to access needed repairs or housing assistance.
Expanding covered property types and services (debris removal, shared repairs, temporary housing) will likely increase FEMA program costs and thus federal spending, which has fiscal impacts for taxpayers.
Including communal property and routing aid through associations could create disputes between associations and individual unit owners over allocation of funds, slowing repairs and recovery.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Expands Stafford Act definitions to include condos, co‑ops, common‑interest and manufactured home communities and lets FEMA fund debris removal and common‑element repairs when owners document pro rata shares.
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 January 31, 2025 by David Rouzer · Last progress January 31, 2025
Expands the Stafford Act to explicitly cover condominiums, housing cooperatives, manufactured housing communities, and other residential common‑interest communities. It requires the President to adopt rules treating debris removal from these shared‑ownership properties as "in the public interest" when a state or local government determines the debris threatens life, public health and safety, or local economic recovery, and it authorizes FEMA to provide financial assistance for repair of essential common elements when individual unit owners document their pro rata share of the cost. The changes apply only to major disasters or emergencies declared on or after the Act's enactment.