Something unusual happened last week in Washington, DC. In a rare showing of bipartisan support during the Trump era, both chambers of Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a package incorporating provisions from more than 60 pieces of legislation to help address housing affordability in the US. But then, in a moment that better reflects what Americans expect from the federal government, Trump canceled the bill signing, saying he would hold up the bill until Congress passed his controversial voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act. On Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the housing bill to Trump for signing, but the president called it “a big yawn” and “so unimportant.”

There’s not enough space here to go through all the important sections of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — including a provision that would limit the number of single-family homes that private equity firms can purchase. But with hurricane season upon us and extreme storms and heat waves blanketing the country, one section that stands out is the three-year reauthorization of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), which would maintain assistance for lower-income families in the wake of disasters. 

So what is CDBG-DR?  When people think of disaster recovery and mitigation, they tend to think of programs associated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). But a variety of other government agencies and departments also participate. The Small Business Administration, for instance, grants low-interest financing to help survivors rebuild. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers programs such as CDBG-DR. When a disaster is declared, HUD opens CDBG-DR grants to state, local, and tribal governments to assist with disaster relief, recovery, rebuilding infrastructure, housing assistance, and economic revitalization. Right now, you’re probably thinking, “How is that different from FEMA assistance?” While FEMA grant programs address immediate post-disaster needs, CDBG-DR addresses long-term needs that are either unmet by FEMA funding or by insurance.

Like many other vital government programs, CDBG-DR has historically been reauthorized and funded sporadically through supplemental packages, leading to inconsistent support. Many groups, including the Appalachian Flood Resilience Coalition, have called on Congress to permanently reauthorize the program to create stability. While the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act does not do that, the three-year reauthorization is at least a step in the right direction. And as previously noted, the legislation retains the strict threshold that at least 70 percent of a CDBG-DR grant must be used to directly support low- to moderate-income communities, unless HUD provides a formal justification to the contrary. In the past, Congress and HUD have simply asked communities to “make a good faith effort” to meet the requirements or set the threshold to 50 percent.

That Trump has called provisions of the housing bill like this “unimportant” shows how little he thinks of the needs of communities struggling to rebuild. Congress’ rare bipartisan effort to solve an affordability issue stands in stark contrast to the administration’s current priorities, which seem to value spectacle over substantive relief. The president has been focusing on vanity projects like his ballroom, an arch that will block the sightline between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, and his Great American State Fair, which brings a Ferris wheel to a region that already has a larger observation wheel 14 minutes away. There’s also the war that’s not a war despite the fact that the US and Iran are still firing missiles at each other.

Ultimately, disaster survivors waiting for money to rebuild don’t care about ballroom renovations or “American flag blue” reflecting pools. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a unique political moment in the Trump era, with Congress finally stepping up to represent the people. This is an opportunity for Trump to show real leadership and do the same. But like all those vanity projects and his war, he’s mishandling it.