Natural disaster housing assistance proposed

A bill aimed at providing housing assistance to individuals displaced by a natural disaster was heard Feb. 23 in a hearing of the Health and Human Services Committee.

LB1110, introduced by Bancroft Sen. Lydia Brasch, would provide temporary and permanent housing assistance to individuals displaced by a natural disaster through creation of subaccounts of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Homeless Shelter Assistance Trust Fund.

The bill would authorize initial transfers of $500,000 from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $300,000 from the Homeless Shelter Trust Fund into subaccounts. Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, 10 percent of all money remitted to each of the funds would be transferred to the subaccounts until a balance of $2 million was reached in the affordable housing subaccount and $500,000 in the homeless shelter subaccount.

Under the bill, the state Department of Economic Development would be authorized to use funds from the affordable housing subaccount to provide grants to counties, cities or villages for permanent housing assistance upon the governor’s request for a federal disaster declaration.

Upon declaration of a state of emergency by the governor, the state Department of Health and Human Services would be authorized to provide grants from the homeless shelter subaccount to counties, cities or villages for temporary housing assistance for up to three months.

Brasch said many families in her district struggled to find adequate housing after flooding last year damaged and destroyed homes.

“I believe Nebraska has a responsibility to be prepared, preemptive and responsive for housing needs for our citizens after a natural disaster,” she said.

Danielle Hill, director of the Nebraska Housing Developers Association, testified against the bill, citing funding, process and policy concerns.

Hill said the Affordable Housing Trust Fund’s current $7 million balance is misleading because those funds already are committed to affordable housing projects. In addition, she said, the Homeless Shelter Trust Fund traditionally has been used to fund organizations and shelters, not to address individual housing needs.

Hill said creating an additional government program to provide natural disaster housing would be cumbersome and would detract from the policy goals of the existing trust funds.

“There are people who deal with homelessness every day,” she said. “People live in substandard housing every day.”

No one testified in support of the bill and the committee took no immediate action.