NLIHC and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) released a joint report on November 8 analyzing the risks that natural hazards pose to federally assisted housing and its residents. The report, Natural Hazards and Federally Assisted Housing, finds that nearly a quarter of federally assisted homes are in census tracts with the greatest risk of negative impacts from natural hazards and that heat waves pose the greatest threat to residents of federally assisted housing.
To assess the threats that natural hazards pose to federally assisted housing and its residents, NLIHC and PAHRC matched data from the National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD) to census tract-level data on natural hazard risks from FEMA’s National Risk Index (NRI). The NRI assesses natural hazard risks based on expected annual losses from 18 types of natural hazards, as well as social vulnerability and community resiliency metrics. The NHPD, a joint project between NLIHC and PAHRC, is a fully deduplicated inventory of federally assisted rental properties.
Regarding overall risk from natural hazards, NLIHC and PAHRC found that 24% of federally assisted homes were in census tracts with the greatest risk of negative impacts from natural hazards nationwide. In eight states, more than half of federally assisted homes were in census tracts with the greatest risk of negative impacts. NLIHC and PAHRC also found that federally assisted homes in rural areas were more vulnerable to the negative impacts of natural hazards than homes in urban areas. Thirty percent of federally assisted rental homes in rural areas were in census tracts with the greatest risk for negative impacts compared to 23% of federally assisted rental homes in urban areas.
NLIHC and PAHRC also examined risks from the six most destructive natural hazards in terms of property loss and life: heat waves, tornadoes, riverine flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires. Heat waves were the most prevalent hazard threatening residents of federally assisted homes. Twenty-eight percent of federally assisted rental homes were in census tracts with the greatest risk of losses from extreme heat. Meanwhile, 25% of federally assisted rental homes were in census tracts with the greatest risk of losses from tornadoes, and 23% were in census tracts with the greatest risk of losses from riverine flooding. Twenty-one percent of federally assisted rental homes were in census tracts with the greatest risk of losses from earthquakes, while 17% of federally assisted rental homes were in census tracts with the greatest risk of losses from hurricanes. Wildfires were the only one of the six most destructive natural hazards where owner-occupied homes (20%) were more likely to be in the highest risk census tracts compared to federally assisted rental homes (13%).
Greater resources for mitigation and better recovery planning are needed at all levels of government to protect federally assisted housing and its residents from natural hazards. The “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” would permanently authorize the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, helping to expedite the allocation of federal recovery funds and prioritize one-for-one repair or replacement of federally assisted housing impacted by disasters. Given the risks posed by extreme heat, there is also a need to improve energy efficiency and air conditioning in older federally assisted homes, while expanding utility allowance policies in federal housing programs to cover air conditioning for all residents.
Read the report at: https://bit.ly/3QOqvsN