The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition convenes and supports disaster-impacted communities to ensure that federal disaster recovery efforts reach all impacted households, including the lowest-income and most marginalized people who are often the hardest-hit by disasters and have the fewest resources to recover.
Learn more about the DHRC’s policy recommendations here.
Resources
The Urban Institute and Enterprise Community Partners released a federal policy and climate migration briefing for federal executive and legislative officials that outlines key insights gained from a “Stakeholders Summit on Federal Policy for Climate Displacement, Relocation, and Migration” held in November 2020. Participants addressed gaps in the federal response to displacement and migration within climate adaptation, with the goal of envisioning a new framework as climate policy evolves under a new presidential administration. The report cites the NLIHC-led DHRC’s report, “Fixing America’s Broken Disaster Housing Recovery System Part One: Barriers to a Complete and Equitable Recovery.” Read the “Federal Policy and Climate Migration Briefing for Federal Executive and Legislative Officials” and four accompanying briefs for national advocacy organizations and philanthropy; state, tribal, and local governments; local community groups and justice organizers; and environmental, community, and climate scholars.
Winter Storms
FEMA is conducting virtual home inspections for Louisiana survivors in designated counties who sustained damage from the winter storms in February.
Hurricanes Laura & Delta
Texas Housers released a report on the failed Hurricane Laura evacuation of a HUD-contracted property in Galveston known as Sandpiper Cove. Failures in communication between local and state emergency management agencies to low-income housing residents, in flood-prone Galveston, led to confusion and failure to evacuate by some of the most vulnerable residents, including older adults, people with disabilities, and mothers with young children, most of whom are Black. Texas Housers’ report describes the evacuation as experienced by residents of Sandpiper Cove Apartments and provides recommendations for improvement in future storm evacuations. Read the report: “Close Call with Disaster: Lessons from the Hurricane Laura Evacuation of a HUD-subsidized Apartment in Galveston”
Damage from Hurricane Laura was of such severity that it crossed the threshold of FEMA’s typical Public Assistance cost-share rate of 75% and allowed Louisiana to receive a cost-share rate of 90% for eligible damages. The cost-share adjustment resulted in nearly $22 million more for applicants to fund projects, such as restoring a children’s hospital, repairing sewer systems, and rebuilding parish buildings.