Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
HUD announced on March 1 that the Citizen Participation & Equitable Engagement (CPEE) Toolkit is now available. The toolkit is a resource to help Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grantees center equity in disaster recovery programs through an enhanced citizen participation process. The primary goal of citizen participation is to provide residents – especially low- and moderate-income (LMI) residents of the communities where CDBG-DR-funded activities will take place – with opportunities to actively participate in the planning, implementation, and assessment of programs and projects. Access the toolkit here.
FEMA
Yvette Chen from the Fair Share Housing Center published an op-ed in the Hill on FEMA’s proposal to collect demographic data on the race and ethnicity of disaster survivors. FEMA does not currently collect data on the race and ethnicity of aid recipients, making it difficult to analyze the impact of inequitable disaster relief on communities of color. These data could help quantify what policymakers, researchers, and advocates already know: that our current disaster recovery system exacerbates racial disparities. FEMA is accepting public comments on its proposal through March 28.
Reporting & Research
Southerly examines what a federal disaster declaration entails and why disaster aid takes so long to reach individuals and communities in need.
By permanently authorizing HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, the DHRC-supported “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” (S. 2471) would help ensure that long-term disaster recovery funds are made available quickly after disasters and that all disaster survivors and their communities can fully and equitably recover.
CNBC and the Hill highlight a new report released by CoreLogic in February 2022 estimating that 1 in 10 – or nearly 15 million – homes were impacted by natural disasters in 2021, totaling nearly $57 billion in property damage. CoreLogic recommends local, state, and federal governments enact informed policies to protect each local environment from natural disasters.
Flooding
Three months after flooding damaged nearly 2,000 buildings in Washington’s Whatcom County, more than 100 survivors are still living in motels and rental units. Emergency officials believe some survivors will not be able to return to their homes until the end of the year, but state emergency funding for temporary housing ends on April 30, and many survivors will likely be left without shelter at that point.
Hurricanes
Members of the Louisiana congressional delegation urged U.S. House and Senate appropriators to provide additional long-term hurricane recovery resources through the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program in the upcoming appropriations legislation.
The director of Louisiana’s Lake Charles Housing Authority says that damage from Hurricane Laura has contributed to a demand for affordable housing that simply cannot be met. Of the 456 public housing units managed by the housing authority, only 159 units – about 35% – are livable and occupied. Roughly 400 residents who lived in authority-managed homes that were deemed unlivable after the hurricanes are scattered throughout the country.
An article in Southerly examines the work of the Louisiana Just Recovery Network (LJRN), a volunteer group that formed in the days after Hurricane Ida devastated southeast Louisiana. LJRN formed over the course of months of grassroots relief efforts and is now a network of organizations responding to disasters and rebuilding after storms using a climate-justice approach. The article – authored by Michael Esealuka, a cofounder of LJRN and an organizer with Healthy Gulf – highlights our country’s inequitable disaster recovery system and explains why a more holistic, just approach to recovery is needed.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that due to a shortage of affordable housing, hundreds of residents in Montgomery and Chester counties who were displaced by Hurricane Ida are still trying to find housing. Most of the properties destroyed by flooding caused by Ida were affordable housing units. Residents affected by Ida are still navigating the bureaucratic process for federal assistance and have received little financial aid.
Wildfires
The Los Angeles Times reports that survivors of last year’s Caldor Fire say FEMA has done little to help them rebuild their homes. While FEMA made Public Assistance (PA) funds available to reimburse state and local governments for costs related to the destructive wildfire, the agency did not approve a request from Governor Gavin Newsom to provide Individual Assistance (IA), which would help eligible uninsured or underinsured residents handle temporary housing and rebuilding costs. FEMA’s decision not to approve direct assistance has led to further criticism that the agency’s assistance programs are geared toward addressing disasters in the East and Midwest rather than the climate-caused wildfires in the West. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) has introduced two bills to reform the federal government’s response to wildfires. The “FEMA Improvement, Reform, and Efficiency (FIRE) Act” would reform the Stafford Act governing FEMA to ensure that the agency’s efforts fully address the unique nature of wildfires and their impacts on communities. The DHRC-supported “Achieving Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and Resilience Act of 2022” (S.3502) would establish an Office of Civil Rights, Equity, and Inclusion within FEMA to improve the quality of disaster assistance for marginalized and underserved communities.
Two individuals in Colorado who lost their homes in the Marshall Fire are fighting to remain in the recreational vehicles (RVs) they purchased and set up on their burned properties after being told they must leave. The City of Superior said the temporary homes are illegally parked and must be moved. While city leaders had considered allowing temporary housing after nearly 400 homes burned down in the town, the advisory board ruled against it.
DHRC Updates
Please note that the DHRC Disaster Recovery Working Group will now meet on Wednesdays at 2:00 pm ET. Register at https://bit.ly/34Efwsa.