The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition stands ready to convene and support 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.
Federal Action & National News
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Resources
Natural Disasters, Severe Weather, and COVID-19
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
The USDA announced on September 8 that low-income Louisiana residents impacted by Hurricane Laura could be eligible for the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP).
The USDA on September 10 announced that low-income Iowa residents in 10 additional counties recovering from the effects of the derecho could be eligible for the USDA Disaster Supplemental Assistance Program (D-SNAP).
FEMA
President Trump approved an emergency disaster declaration for Oregon. Emergency protective measures (Category B), including direct federal assistance under the Public Assistance program, will be provided at 75% federal funding for Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Jefferson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Tillamook, and Washington counties.
FEMA approved two additional Louisiana parishes for individual assistance. Homeowners and renters in Morehouse and Union parishes may now apply for federal disaster assistance for uninsured and underinsured damage and losses resulting from Hurricane Laura.
FEMA approved a major disaster declaration for California on August 22 to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires from August 14 and continuing.
FEMA authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs for three fires in Washington: the Cold Springs/Pearl Hill Fire impacting the Colville Reservation and Douglas and Okanogan counties, the Apple Acres Fire burning in Chelan County, and the Babb Fire in Spokane and Whitman counties.
FEMA authorized the use of federal funds to fight the Ether Hollow Fire burning in Utah County, Utah; the Cameron Peak Fire burning in Larimer County, Colorado; the 316 Fire burning in Carbon County, Wyoming; the Bridger Foothills Fire burning in Gallatin County, Montana; the Two Four Two Fire burning in Oregon’s Klamath County.
FEMA announced that federal disaster assistance has been made available to Puerto Rico to supplement commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Tropical Storm Isaias from July 29-31, 2020.
Reporting
Mother Jones examines how the threats natural disasters pose are being compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. Even with the CDC’s eviction moratorium, housing and environmental experts are alarmed about the emerging eviction crisis threatening people facing natural disasters and housing insecurity. “I’ve never seen a moment where the housing crisis and natural disasters and pandemic have collided in this way,” says NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel.
A blog post from the Natural Resources Defense Council discusses how Hurricane Laura is yet another reminder of how low-income communities and communities of color are most vulnerable to climate-fueled disasters. The article, which cites DHRC resources, outlines barriers to securing federal disaster assistance and inequities in disaster recovery.
The Guardian discusses the disproportionate impact a large COVID-era earthquake would have on low-income renters in the Bay Area. Lower-income residents are more likely to live in older, riskier buildings and have limited choices about whether to live. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic fallout will further limit low-income renters’ housing options.
Wildfires in the West
The Associated Press reports an estimated 500,000 people were evacuated in Oregon due to the deadly wildfires. Entire mobile home parks with many units occupied by Mexican immigrants were reduced to ash in the small Oregon town of Phoenix and nearby Talent.
Oregon Live reports the Almeda fire decimated the Jackson County communities of Talent and Phoenix. The power remains out in both towns and drinking water is shut off. Leaders estimate more than 2,000 residents, many of them seniors and low-income, lost their homes this week.
The Washington Post reports that nearly 1,000 housing units in Phoenix have been destroyed by the wildfire, many of them in mobile homes and RV parks. The fire decimated an entire mobile home park in Phoenix where the majority of residents are Latino. One family who lost their home recently canceled the insurance on their mobile home after having their work hours and shifts reduced to the pandemic.
The Regal Courier reports on the limited options for people experiencing homelessness in Portland amid the devastating wildfires that prompted the Oregon Department of Environment Quality on September 10 to issue an air quality advisory statewide.
Jefferson Public Radio reports on the destruction the wildfires in Oregon have had on mobile home parks lining Bear Creek.
In an emergency declaration declared on September 10, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler directed the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management to help unsheltered people relocate to safer areas. The City of Portland/Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services announced it is opening emergency 24-hour shelter space for people experiencing homelessness and that it has acquired 40,000 new KN95 masks to help with breathing.
Despite the ongoing heat and smoke, Seattle has no current plans to open cooling centers or smoke shelters to protect people experiencing homelessness from the dangerous impacts of the wildfires. Mayor Jenny Durkan has decided against opening cooling centers in recent weeks, arguing that the risk of the coronavirus outweighs the risk of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and hygiene-related illnesses.
The Guardian reports on the tens of thousands of Californians who are unhoused or housing-insecure during the COVID-19 pandemic and facing dangerous smoke-filled air caused by the wildfires. While San Francisco providers have handed out masks to provide coronavirus protection, they are not smoke-filtering masks. California’s record-breaking heatwave this weekend sparked several new wildfires and raised widespread public health concerns, including the impact of triple-digit temperatures on people experiencing homelessness.
Finding housing for evacuees who have been permanently displaced by wildfires, especially those without insurance, is a complex process. Napa County is aware of as many as 20 individuals who have been rendered homeless by the fires, according to the care and shelter director for the county’s Emergency Operations Center.
KQED compiled a list of opportunities to support unhoused individuals in the Bay Area who are suffering from the overlapping crises of the current heatwave, unhealthy air quality, and COVID-19 pandemic.
Street Spirit discusses the dangers facing unsheltered individuals during the wildfires and ongoing pandemic. As more people are displaced by the wildfires, the unhoused population will grow, and more unhoused people will be impacted by toxic smoke.
Hurricane Laura
The Washington Post reports on the destruction Hurricane Laura had on the Jesse James Mobile Home Park in Lake Charles, Louisiana. One individual whose trailer was destroyed in the hurricane continually called FEMA for assistance, but the line was busy all day.
Iowa Derecho
An op-ed in the Gazette written by the development director for Iowa City’s Shelter House urges Iowans to not ignore the individuals and families experiencing homelessness in their communities. While the pandemic and derecho did not create the housing and homelessness crisis, they have exacerbated disparities, destroyed lives, and underscored the need for change.