Ounce of Prevention Act

This bill amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to explicitly allow Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) amounts to be used for natural disaster mitigation activities . It expands the Act's purposes to include mitigating threats from weather-related disaster and hazard events, defining mitigation as actions that increase resilience and reduce long-term risks to life and property. Grantees can utilize CDBG funds for new construction and rehabilitation related to mitigation, provided they are in a certified high-risk area based on federal or state indices and detail these activities in their consolidated plan. To facilitate these efforts, the bill allows housing units assisted for mitigation to be treated as a single structure for national objectives and exempts them from certain public benefit aggregate standards. It also mandates the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide technical assistance to grantees undertaking these activities. Furthermore, the Secretary is required to issue new rules within one year to classify mitigation efforts in high-risk areas as urgent community development needs and serious threats to community welfare, thereby integrating them fully into CDBG program criteria.