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.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Steube (for himself and Mr. Carter of Louisiana) introduced …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Clean Up DEBRIS Act closes a gap in federal disaster relief by making homeowners associations, condominium communities, housing cooperatives, and manufactured home parks eligible for federal debris removal assistance after major disasters. Currently, the Stafford Act provides debris removal help to individual properties but does not clearly cover shared-ownership communities like HOAs or condo associations.
Who Benefits and How
HOA residents, condo owners, housing cooperative members, and manufactured home park residents benefit by becoming eligible for federal disaster debris cleanup they were previously denied. After a hurricane, tornado, or other major disaster, FEMA would cover debris removal costs instead of these communities having to pay out-of-pocket or through special assessments. State and local governments also benefit by having federal resources available for cleanup in these communities. Debris removal contractors would see increased business opportunities from the expanded FEMA program.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal taxpayers bear the cost of expanded disaster relief spending, as FEMA would process more debris removal claims. FEMA itself faces increased administrative workload to implement new rules, process claims from these housing communities, and coordinate with state and local governments on threat determinations.
Key Provisions
- Adds four new definitions to the Stafford Act: "residential common interest community," "condominium," "housing cooperative," and "manufactured home park"
- Requires the President to issue rules making debris removal from these communities eligible when state or local government certifies a threat to life, health, safety, or economic recovery
- Directs federal agencies to defer to state and local definitions of these housing types
- Applies to major disasters declared after the bill becomes law
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to extend federal disaster debris removal assistance to residential common interest communities, condominiums, housing cooperatives, and manufactured home parks affected by major disasters.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Close a gap in federal disaster relief by explicitly including shared-ownership housing communities in debris removal assistance, which were previously not clearly covered under the Stafford Act."
Likely Beneficiaries
- Homeowners associations (HOAs) and their members in disaster-affected areas
- Condominium associations and unit owners
- Housing cooperative members
- Manufactured home park residents and owners
- State and local governments (reduced burden for debris removal in these communities)
Likely Burden Bearers
- Federal taxpayers (funding expanded disaster relief)
- FEMA (administrative burden of implementing new rules and processing claims)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_president"
- → President of the United States
- "state_local_government"
- → State or local government (determines threat status)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Any mandatory membership organization comprising owners of real estate described in a declaration or created pursuant to a covenant or other applicable law with respect to which a person, by virtue of ownership of a unit, is obligated to pay for a share of real estate taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance, improvement, services or other expenses related to common elements or other units.
A stand-alone condominium project in which each dwelling unit is separately owned, remaining portions designated for common ownership by unit owners, each having undivided interest in common elements, represented by an association of all unit owners responsible for operation, administration, and management.
A multi-unit housing entity, including manufactured home associations, where each unit is subject to separate use by cooperative members whose interest is evidenced by membership or share interest and a lease or document of title granted by the cooperative as owner of all cooperative property.
A parcel or contiguous parcels of land divided into 2+ lots containing manufactured home structures that are transportable in sections, built on permanent chassis, designed for use with/without permanent foundation when attached to utilities, and affixed to land.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology