Baucus Calls for Coordinated Effort to House Montana Flood Victims

Montana's senior US Senator, Max Baucus, has called on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to work together with the State Rural Development office to quickly match displaced Montana flood victims with available housing. Baucus emphasized the need for a proactive and cooperative approach to ensure that flood victims receive the necessary assistance to get back into safe housing as soon as possible.

Key Takeaways:

• Baucus wrote a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate urging them to take steps to support the disaster recovery effort in Montana and find viable housing options for displaced families.
• The State Rural Development office has been working to gather a list of vacant housing financed through Rural Development's Section 515 Rural Rental Housing Program.
• USDA Rural Development has about 150 rental units in their program across the state that could be used for housing, and they can give priority to and waive certain regulations for families displaced by flooding.
• Baucus applauded additional federal disaster assistance for Montana homeowners and low-income renters through the US Housing and Urban Development Department.

Statistics:

• Montana Rural Development has about 150 rental units available for housing.
• Unfortunately, exact numbers of displaced families are not mentioned in the provided text.

Sources:

• News release from the office of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
• Baucus.senate.gov (?p=press_release&id=553)
• Letter from Baucus to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate ([http://baucus.senate.gov/06202011VilsackUSDAFugateFEMAdisastersupport_Housing.pdf](http://baucus.senate.gov/06202011VilsackUSDAFugateFEMAdisastersupport_Housing.pdf))