Policy is how resilient construction scales. SHA works with legislators, state agencies, housing finance authorities, and community leaders to build the policy and regulatory frameworks that make resilient construction accessible, incentivized, and required where it matters most.
We have been providing technical assistance on resilient policy and modern code enforcement since 2009. Our approach is grounded in subject matter expertise, decades of research, and real-world results.
What we work on
- Insurance discount legislation that rewards homeowners for building to resilient standards
- State grant programs that lower the cost barrier for FORTIFIED construction
- Building code adoption and enforcement, including the Coastal Construction Code Supplement
- Qualified Allocation Plan criteria that embed resilient construction requirements into affordable housing finance
- Disaster recovery funding requirements, including CDBG-DR and HUD GRRP action plans
- Federal and state legislative testimony in support of mitigation and resilience policy
What that work has produced
State legislation enacted in Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and beyond. Grant programs that have put tens of thousands of homes on a path to a FORTIFIED designation. Disaster recovery funding criteria in Iowa, Louisiana, and other states that require FORTIFIED as the minimum standard for federally funded new construction. A national model that other states are now replicating.