Community-Based Organizations Can Play an Essential Role in the Recovery of Public Housing Residents After Disasters

By Esther Y. Colón-Bermúdez, Research Analyst

A study published in Planning Research, “The Role of Community-Based Organizations in Recovery of Public Housing Residents Following Compounding Disasters: Case Study of Ponce, Puerto Rico,” examines the role of community-based organizations (CBOs) in supporting public housing residents’ recovery following the 2020 southwest earthquakes and COVID-19 in Puerto Rico. Using a qualitative case study and participatory methods, the authors found that CBOs provided emergency response assistance, basic needs support, housing transition services, and infrastructure repair, while also establishing collaborative networks to support disaster recovery. These findings point to how nonprofits and CBOs can improve public housing recovery efforts and inform strategies for better engagement.

As disasters occur more frequently and impact the same communities repeatedly, their compounding effects increase social vulnerability and strain recovery systems. Public housing residents are especially affected, often living in areas with high natural hazard risks and experiencing slower recovery from disasters, which amplifies existing housing insecurity, unemployment, health disparities, and unequal access to resources and services. 

The authors employed various methods to examine the roles CBOs played in promoting public housing residents' recovery, the extent to which they were engaged in formal public housing recovery programs, and the challenges they faced in their work. The authors were also interested in how CBOs coordinated with other entities in a recovery context. To examine these topics, the authors used a combination of archival research and key informant interviews with social service providers and housing institutions. For their archival research, they reviewed 32 documents from 2019–2022 on post-disaster recovery from a variety of federal and local government agencies. For the interviews, the authors partnered with a local nonprofit, Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services, to identify relevant CBOs and public housing authorities that could share their experiences with recovery efforts. 

The authors found that CBOs adapted and extended far beyond their traditional social and health service provision roles by actively participating in housing and overall recovery efforts for public housing residents. Some of these efforts included coordinating emergency response assistance, securing temporary and permanent housing, and meeting residents' other basic needs. Central to the effectiveness of CBOs was their ability to build collaborative partnerships and networks with housing authorities, municipalities, nonprofits, government agencies, and other CBOs. They filled need-based gaps that public housing administrators couldn't address and provided additional resources through other organizations for residents. CBOs were challenged in these roles by the constraints of being small organizations, as well as by the nature of the disasters themselves. Disaster impacts were often felt both at home and at work for CBO staff. In response, they adapted in various ways, including pivoting to virtual services, developing continuity plans, and further integrating technology into their work.

While grounded in Puerto Rico, the study’s findings related to CBOs are increasingly relevant across disaster-affected communities throughout the United States in the context of limited state and federal support for housing and disaster recovery. As compounding disasters become more frequent, investing in and integrating CBOs into coordinated recovery planning is essential to ensuring that public housing residents are not left behind.

Read the full article at: https://bit.ly/3Oy7xsp