The tornadoes and wildfires that devastated communities from Kentucky to Colorado in the final weeks of 2021 left thousands of people displaced or homeless. For many of them, it will be months if not years before their homes are rebuilt.
That’s especially hard on low-income residents.
I study the impact of disasters on affordable housing, resilience and recovery. Recent disasters illustrate why communities need to plan now to protect their most vulnerable residents. In doing so, they also protect their economies.
Middle- and low-income households tend to occupy the riskiest homes in communities for a few key reasons.
First, land values tend to be lower in areas that are risky or otherwise less desirable, such as low-lying areas that are known to flood, near toxic facilities or in outlying areas that fail to enforce building codes. The housing that gets built there tends to be more affordable.
Second, as communities grow, older homes become more affordable through a process called “filtering,” where wealthier households move into newer housing, leaving older, more dilapidated homes available for lower-income households. Older homes were often built under less-stringent building codes, which can make them more physically vulnerable.
Third, patterns of historical segregation and discrimination in real estate and lending can compound these problems by limiting Black and Hispanic families’ ability to afford lower-risk neighborhoods.
Research has shown that lower-income households are not only more likely to suffer damage in a natural disaster, but they are more likely to take much longer – two to three times longer – to recover. It’s because of what researchers call “social vulnerability.”
The location and quality of housing, combined with the vulnerability of residents, means that those most affected by disasters are often those least able to recover.
Communities need to understand that slow recovery for vulnerable households can slow the recovery of the overall community.
Communities need to plan now to protect their most vulnerable residents.
Researchers have found that housing recovery is strongly linked to business recovery. Workers need housing so they can return to work, and businesses need those workers.
Housing recovery typically gets left to the market. For homeowning households with good insurance, the market works reasonably well. But for lower-income households, including renters, it can be difficult to return to their homes or even their neighborhoods.
In depressed markets with low-value homes, replacement values are not enough to rebuild equivalent housing.
Hot markets such as Boulder County, Colo., face a different challenge. Rebuilding in those markets allows developers and speculators to take advantage of redevelopment opportunities. Research suggests that affordable housing will almost always be replaced by more-expensive housing targeted to a wealthier demographic. And for low-income residents who rent and lose their homes to disasters, there is little chance to return to their original development.
Short-term assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individual Assistance Program helps displaced households find temporary housing and make repairs to homes that qualify. Assistance can also come from Community Development Block Grants, but these funds take months and even years to arrive.
What can be done? A few communities have tried new ideas.
La Grange, Texas, which flooded during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, is experimenting with community land trusts. These involve cooperative ownership of land coupled with individual ownership of units. Residents must occupy the unit for a prescribed period of time and gain only a small percentage of increases in land value, with the rest going to the co-op. This approach allows residents to pool resources for land purchases and maintains affordability over time.
Boulder County relaxed its rental rules to help displaced residents find temporary homes after wildfire struck.
Nearly every community in the U.S. is increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate change. Planning disaster recovery to ensure that the most vulnerable members of communities can return will result in greater resilience and community vitality.
Shannon Van Zandt is a professor of architecture and urban planning at Texas A&M University. Distributed by The Associated Press.
