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.
Hurricanes
After visiting her grandmother in Puerto Rico, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted about the ongoing impact of Hurricane Maria, highlighting that the Trump administration blocked billions in disaster funding. “Hurricane María relief hasn’t arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for PR. People are being forced to flee ancestral homes, & developers are taking them,” Representative Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico's infrastructure, destroying power lines, hospitals, and clean water sources. Congress allocated more than $60 billion to rebuild Puerto Rico after the hurricane, but so far only a fraction of that amount has been released. The Biden administration in April announced the obligation of $8.2 billion in CDBG-MIT funding approved for Puerto Rico almost two years ago and removed onerous restrictions that limited the island’s access to the funds.
The working-class community that helps keep Florida Keys restaurants and hotels running is still recovering from Hurricane Irma nearly four years later. The Florida Keys Community Land Trust was founded after Irma to create income-based, affordable housing.
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding
Dayton Daily News reports that two years after a powerful EF4 tornado ripped through Trotwood, Ohio, an apartment complex that housed 430 units remains in ruins. The delay in rebuilding stands in sharp contrast to nearby Westbrooke Village, which has been rebuilt and reoccupied. About 1,800 residents of multifamily housing units in Trotwood were displaced by the tornadoes, creating a housing deficit for the city.
FEMA announced that federal disaster assistance has been made available to Louisiana to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding from May 17-21, 2021. President Biden’s major disaster declaration makes FEMA’s Individual Assistance available to affected individuals in Ascension, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, and Lafayette parishes.
FEMA announced that Pennsylvania released a new mobile tool that provides the latest flood mapping information. The PA Flood Risk Tool is designed to provide floodplain managers, insurance agents, developers, real estate agents, local planners, and citizens with a clear picture of flood risk for a specific area or property.
Wildfires
High Country News spotlights Oregon’s Project Turnkey, a $65 million statewide initiative to convert hotels and motels into housing for survivors of the September 2020 wildfires, as well as other people experiencing homelessness. The Redwood Inn is one of as many as 20 motels that the state plans to buy by the end of June. The City of Medford and Rogue Retreat, a nonprofit, received $2.5 million to purchase the Redwood Inn. The project first prioritizes wildfire survivors and will later house other people experiencing homelessness. Wildfires disproportionately harm marginalized communities, whose members are often left with few resources following climate-related disasters. Of the nearly 2,500 homes destroyed by last year’s fires in Jackson County, 60% were mobile homes.
Seventeen trailers will be set up at a site in Rainbow, Oregon to provide temporary housing for survivors of last year’s devastating Holiday Farm Fire. The temporary housing, provided by FEMA, will be available for 18 months from the start of the disaster (not from the date the homes are made available). More than 100 Oregon families are waiting to be placed into temporary housing due to the wildfires.