The Disaster Assistance Fairness Act would extend FEMA disaster-recovery assistance to residents of common-interest communities, condominiums, housing cooperatives, and manufactured-housing communities — categories currently excluded from key Stafford Act benefits because the property law treats common areas as jointly owned rather than as individual private property. The bill amends the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. § 5122 and § 5173) to add formal definitions for each housing type and to direct the President to issue rules covering removal of debris and wreckage from common areas when a state or local government finds the debris constitutes a threat to life, public health, or economic recovery. Section 408 would also be amended to make FEMA Individual Assistance available for repair of essential common elements — roofs, exterior walls, HVAC, elevators, stairwells, plumbing, and electricity — with each household's pro-rata share documented. The change is forward-looking, applying only to disasters declared on or after enactment. Republican Rep. David Rouzer of North Carolina is the lead sponsor with three bipartisan co-sponsors.
Average Household Impact
- FEMA debris-removal eligibility — Extended to common areas of condominiums, housing cooperatives, manufactured-housing communities, and other common-interest communities
- FEMA Individual Assistance scope — Now covers repair of essential common elements (roof, walls, HVAC, elevators, plumbing, electricity) in condos, co-ops, and manufactured-home communities
Congressional Summary
Disaster Assistance Fairness ActThis bill makes common interest communities, such as housing cooperatives (co-ops) and condominiums, and manufactured housing communities eligible for the same assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as other homeowners.Specifically, the billadds definitions of residential common interest community, condominium, housing cooperative, and manufactured housing community to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act;requires FEMA to issue rules for the removal of debris or wreckage from real estate owned by a residential common interest community, condominium, co-op, or manufactured housing community resulting from a major disaster and deems such removal to be in the public interest when a state or local government determines in writing that such debris or wreckage constitutes a threat to life, public health or safety, or the economic recovery of such community; andprovides for the repair of essential common elements of a condominium, co-op, or manufactured housing community damaged by a disaster under FEMA's Individuals and Households Program.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-01-31
- Date Added
- 2026-05-12
- Source
- Congress.gov →
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.