NHLP Publishes Disaster Rights Guide

Federally Assisted Tenants’ Rights After a Disaster: Repairs, Relocation, and Right to Remain or Return

No matter what we look like or where we come from, we want our families to have the freedom to drink clean water, breathe safe air, and live in a healthy home.  Human-driven climate change is fueling more frequent and more dangerous disasters that can be life-changing for people already struggling to make ends meet. The aftermath of climate disasters is stressful and challenging, especially for poor and working tenants now forced to navigate complex federal, state, and local disaster recovery systems. Public housing authorities and subsidized property owners often make decisions in the post-disaster period that can have profound, long-term impacts on the lives of federally-subsidized tenants and the continued availability of deeply affordable housing in their communities. Strong advocacy is critical to keep poor and working residents stably housed by:

• Protecting them from permanent displacement;
• Facilitating equitable access to maximal benefits and services;
• Ensuring that rights and protections are enforced; and
• Advocating for preservation options where subsidized housing is damaged or destroyed.

NHLP’s Federally Assisted Tenants’ Rights After a Disaster provides a comparative overview of tenants’ rights in federally assisted housing after a disaster, with a focus on relocation and re-occupancy rights and benefits available to displaced residents.

• Part I contains program-by-program guidance for advocates assisting federally subsidized tenants after a disaster.
• Part II examines specific advocacy issues that arise in the context of a disaster.
• Part III is an appendix that outlines the federal statutes that govern relocation rights for disaster survivors.

The guide also includes cross-references to NHLP’s HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (the “Green Book”), which is the trusted treatise on tenants’ rights in the federally subsidized housing programs. NHLP has separately created resources on immigration status and eligibility for federal emergency relief programs and advocacy strategies for combating evictions after a disaster. This publication is intended to be used as background information only and is not intended to provide legal advice or substitute for legal research. Read more of NHLP’s Federally Assisted Tenants’ Rights After a Disaster here.