From policy to a path forward

A family cannot rebuild a home with a press release.

A new program can be well designed. Funding can be approved. Agencies can publish guidance. Lenders, servicers, insurers, builders and local governments can each do their part. Yet a disaster-affected homeowner can still be left asking the most basic question: What do I do next?

That is where disaster recovery too often breaks down — not because no one is working, but because everyone is working in a different part of the system. The homeowner becomes the project manager, trying to connect an insurance claim, an existing mortgage, forbearance, loss-draft requirements, rebuilding estimates, construction financing, permits and public assistance while also trying to recover from a disaster.

That is too much to ask of a family already carrying too much.

When I became CEO of the California Mortgage Bankers Association, I brought a simple belief with me: Advocacy could be expanded through collaboration. I have always viewed advocacy as education —bringing the people who understand an issue into the conversation so policymakers can see how a proposal will work in the real world. But this year has sharpened that belief. Education is only the beginning. Advocacy must also help good policy survive contact with real life.

Meeting with lawmakers to explain the negative impacts of a harmful bill is advocacy. Working with lawmakers to improve flawed measures to become workable policy is advocacy. Securing state resources in the state budget to assist victims with disaster recovery is advocacy. But if the people a policy was designed to help cannot understand it, find it or use it, the work is not finished.

California’s $100 million Disaster Rebuilding Assistance Program is a meaningful example. Administered by the California Housing Finance Agency, the program uses construction-loan interest-rate buydowns and loan-loss guarantees to help eligible homeowners address the gap between insurance proceeds and the real cost of rebuilding. It is a serious investment and an important response to a serious need.

But a homeowner does not experience a program as a line in the state budget. That homeowner experiences it through a series of practical questions: Do I qualify? Which lenders participate? What documents do I need? How does this work with my insurance proceeds? What happens if my situation does not fit neatly into one program? Who will help me understand the next step?

Those questions are not side issues. They are the difference between policy that exists and policy that works.

That is why California MBA worked with Prudent AI, participating lenders and public-sector partners to help create the California Disaster Rebuilding Portal at HomeRebuildNetwork.org. The goal is straightforward: give residents a clearer starting point, help them identify possible rebuilding-finance options and connect them with lenders and recovery resources. Technology will not solve every problem, but it can replace a maze of disconnected information with a visible front door.

We are taking the same approach on October 5 at the California Natural Disaster Recovery and Rebuild Forum in Los Angeles. The public Recovery Resource Exchange will bring residents face to face with the agencies and professionals involved in every stage of rebuilding—including city and county permitting and planning offices, mortgage lenders and servicers, insurance representatives, builders and other recovery specialists. Families will be able to ask questions about their individual circumstances, connect directly with the right resources and leave with greater clarity about their path forward.

The point is not to create another event. The point is to shorten the distance between a homeowner’s question and a useful answer.

This is what innovating advocacy through collaboration looks like. It means an association does more than speak for an industry in the state Capitol. It brings together the people responsible for policy, financing and execution, then keeps them at the table long enough to identify the gaps and help close them.

It also shows why industry participation matters. This work is powered by members and partners willing to contribute expertise, technology, time and relationships. Membership dollars do not simply support a voice in Sacramento. They help turn that voice into infrastructure, access and action for the communities our industry serves.

The model has relevance far beyond one forum or one state. Every state has different laws, agencies, disaster risks and community needs. Local leadership must remain local. But the operating principle can travel: connect public policy with industry execution, give consumers a clear point of entry and build the relationships before the next disaster tests them.

Associations do not need to administer every program or deliver every loan. We do need to convene the people who can. We need to identify where the handoffs fail, bring those problems back to policymakers and help translate solutions into something families can actually use.

The test of advocacy is not whether we can point to a bill number, a budget allocation or a successful announcement. The test is whether a family knows what to do Monday morning.

That is the standard. And that is where our work begins.

Paul Gigliotti is the CEO of California MBA

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: [email protected].