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For Immediate Release
October, 05 2017, 11:15am EDT
Contact:
Renee Willis, media@nlihc.org, (202) 662-1530 x247
Hundreds of Organizations Call for Immediate Relief for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and for Complete, Equitable Housing Recovery in All Hurricane Impacted Communities
WASHINGTON
Hundreds of local and national organizations signed onto four National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)-led Hurricane Housing Recovery Coalition letters urging the White House and Congress to provide immediate relief to the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and to ensure that federal housing recovery and rebuilding efforts are complete and equitable for all individuals and communities impacted by the devastation of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
NLIHC and more than 540 national, state, and local organizations sent a letter to President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling for urgent action to address the "growing humanitarian crisis" in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. "At a time when the health and well-being of millions of Americans are at risk, Congress and the Administration must take swift action," the letter states.
More than 500 organizations also signed letters to members of Congress and to senior leadership at FEMA and HUD calling on them to ensure that the federal response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria is complete and equitable for everyone, especially families and individuals with the lowest incomes who are often the hardest hit by disasters and have the fewest resources to recover afterwards. After past disasters, low income people and neighborhoods often have not been included sufficiently in the housing recovery process. As a result, many of the most vulnerable people - including low income seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children - and neighborhoods were not able to recover fully, making them even more vulnerable to future disasters.
The signers recognize that complete recovery after such devastating hurricanes will take years but urge the agencies and Congress to take important steps now to jumpstart the recovery process and to ensure that low income residents receive the assistance they desperately need. The recommendations include:
- Providing sufficient housing recovery funds and cost-effective measures to ensure that all households - including homeowners, renters, and those who were experiencing homelessness before the disaster - receive the affordable and accessible housing assistance they need for as long as they need;
- Ensuring that FEMA quickly enter into a Mission Agreement with HUD so that HUD can stand up a Disaster Housing Assistance Program to administer a disaster voucher program (DVP); and
- Implementing active oversight and reporting to ensure that federal resources are allocated fairly and adequately to meet the needs of low income people and communities.
"It is time for Congress to show bipartisan leadership to make certain that federal disaster recovery resources reach all impacted households, including those with the lowest incomes who are often the hardest hit by disasters and have the fewest resources to recover afterwards," wrote NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in a recent article about the hurricane housing recovery efforts. "Millions of Americans in desperate need are waiting."
Read each of the letters at: https://nlihc.org/issues/disaster
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to ending America's affordable housing crisis. Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, NLIHC educates, organizes and advocates to ensure decent, affordable housing within healthy neighborhoods for everyone. NLIHC provides up-to-date information, formulates policy and educates the public on housing needs and the strategies for solutions.
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The Houthis on Saturday took credit for launching a ballistic missile at Israel, opening a new front in the war US President Donald Trump illegally started with Iran nearly one month ago.
As reported by Axios, the attack by the Houthis signals that the Yemen-based militia is joining the conflict to aide Iran, which has been under aerial assault from the US and Israel for the past four weeks.
Although the Houthi missile was intercepted by Israeli defenses, it is likely just the opening salvo in an expanding conflict throughout the Middle East.
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Sky News international correspondent John Sparks reported on Saturday that the Houthis' entrance into the war shows that "this crisis is expanding, it is escalating."
'This crisis is expanding and escalating.'
Houthi rebels in Yemen have confirmed they launched a missile at Israel, marking the Iran-backed group's first involvement in the war.
@sparkomat reports live from Jerusalem
https://t.co/Leuc4SnGfG
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/TmlyFHkCZN
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For instance, one IDF soldier acknowledged during conversations with the CNN crew that the settler outpost near Tayasir was unlawful under both international and Israeli law, but insisted "this will be a legal settlement... slowly, slowly."
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In what's being called an "exceedingly rare" move, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of two Black and two female colonels to one-star generals,
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Pete Hegseth looked at a list of qualified officers and decided Black leaders and women had to go.That’s not leadership. It’s discrimination in plain sight.And every Republican who stays silent is complicit.
[image or embed]
— Rep. Norma Torres (@normajtorres.bsky.social) March 27, 2026 at 10:10 AM
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Buria called the officials' account of his exchange with Driscoll "completely false."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to discuss the matter beyond saying that Hegseth is “doing a tremendous job restoring meritocracy throughout the ranks at the Pentagon, as President Trump directed him to do.”
Military officials told the Times that one of the Black colonels whose promotion was blocked by Hegseth wrote a paper nearly 15 years ago historically analyzing differences between Black and white soldiers' roles in the Army. One of the female colonels, a logistics officer, was held back because she was deployed in Afghanistan during the US withdrawal whose foundation was laid by Trump during his first term. It is unclear why the two other colonels were denied promotions.
Although more than 40% of current active duty US troops are people of color, military leadership remains overwhelmingly comprised of white men. Hegseth, who declared a "frontal assault" on the "whores to wokesters" who he said rose up through the ranks during the Biden administration, told an audience during a 250th anniversary ceremony for the US Navy that "your diversity is not your strength."
Hegseth has argued that women should not serve in combat roles, although he later walked back his assertion amid pushback from senators during his confirmation process. Still, since Trump returned to office, every service branch chief and 9 of the military’s 10 combat commanders are white men.
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"The claim that Hegseth’s chief of staff told the army secretary Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events is racist, sexist, and extremely concerning," wrote the lawmakers, Reps. Yvette Clarke (NY), Teresa Leger Fernández (NM), Emilia Sykes (Ohio), Hillary Scholten (Mich.), and Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.).
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