Amidst hurricane season, congressional lawmakers have introduced legislation that would strengthen Miami’s resilience against hurricanes. A bipartisan group, including Florida Rep. Greg Steube (R), introduced the Shelter Act.
The legislation provides a tax credit to both small businesses and working families to invest in disaster mitigation improvements to protect their property and homes ahead of time.
Every year, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are spent on disaster recovery. However, there are no federal tax incentives that encourage families and businesses to properly plan before disaster resilience and mitigation. With this bill, Americans would be allowed to write off 25 percent of qualifying mitigation expenses up to $2,500 per taxpayer. This would include strengthening the durability of a roof to elevating a housing unit, so it reduces potential flood damage.
Florida Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R) and Carlos Gimenez (R) joined Steube in introducing the legislation, and Colorado Reps. Michael Bennett (D) and Brittany Pettersen (D) and California Rep. Scott Peters (D) also supported the bill.
“While disaster relief is critical after storms, we must be proactive in mitigating damage in advance,” Salazar shared, adding that the bill “will provide the right incentives for families to protect their homes and loved ones while also providing incentives to safeguard small businesses.”
Steube echoed in Salazar's remarks while also citing Hurricane Ian, which left a destructive part of the state. “In the wake of Hurricane Ian, many Floridians who have just recovered are choosing to make home improvements to minimize damages during the next storm,” Steube explained.
Championing the effort to provide tax credit that would significantly help Americans, Steube further explained that the bill “will encourage Americans in disaster-prone areas to better prepare their properties and contribute to shorter, less costly recoveries following future disasters.”
The legislation has also received support in the Senate.
