H.R. 9557: Ounce of Prevention Act

This bill would expand how some local governments and other Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recipients can use federal housing and community development funds. In plain terms, it would let eligible grant recipients spend certain CDBG dollars on natural disaster mitigation projects—work intended to reduce damage from future weather-related disasters and hazards before they happen.

What counts as eligible mitigation work

The bill defines “mitigation activities” as actions that make communities more resilient to disasters and reduce the long-term risk of death, injury, property damage, and hardship. It specifically includes new construction and rehabilitation of structures when done for disaster mitigation purposes.

Who could use the funds this way

A grantee could use CDBG money for these mitigation activities only if:

• it identifies itself in its required consolidated plan as being in a high-risk area, and
• the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development certifies that risk using either:
  • FEMA’s National Risk Index, or
  • a state-maintained natural hazard risk index.

The plan would also need to explain how the proposed activities would address the community’s disaster mitigation needs.

Changes to existing grant rules

The bill would adjust certain CDBG rules so that housing units assisted through these disaster mitigation activities could be treated differently for compliance purposes. In particular, they could be treated:

• as a single structure for certain national objectives tests, and
• as exempt from some aggregate public benefit standards.

These changes are meant to make it easier for grantees to use CDBG funds for mitigation projects under the bill.

Technical assistance and federal rulemaking

The bill would require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide technical assistance to grantees that use funds for these mitigation activities. It would also require HUD, within one year of enactment, to issue rules that:

• treat mitigation work in areas facing possible natural disaster risk as an activity addressing urgent community development needs,
• treat such work as meeting certain national objectives under HUD regulations, and
• recognize documented weather-related disaster or hazard threats as a serious and immediate threat to the community’s health or welfare.

Bottom line

The bill would make it easier for eligible communities to use CDBG funds for projects meant to prevent or reduce damage from future natural disasters, especially in high-risk areas, rather than using those funds only for recovery or other traditional community development purposes.

Relevant Companies

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