Speaker
Description
2017 had the dubious distinction of being the worst year for hurricane damage in Gulf Coast history. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate caused an estimated $290 billion in damage that year due to wind, storm surge and inland flooding. Texas and Florida combined had over 75,000 housing units damaged by the storms, Puerto Rico had an estimate 472,000 housing units damaged. There were 180 deaths attributed to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, while excess mortality estimates nearly 3000 deaths from Hurricane Maria (NOAA, 2017). Many parts of Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico still show the scars of those events some eight years later and are still rebuilding and recovering. All three impacted regions have made resilience the cornerstone of their recovery efforts, however what that means and how best to accomplish that objective remains a work in progress.
This paper builds on insights from a recently completed project focused on Harris County, Texas and its 34 cities that sought to plan and provide housing in a more resilient manner not just for hurricanes but with consideration to all hazards (Home is Here, 2021). Based on that experience, the author argues that Climate Resilient Housing Policy requires five builds to better prepare, endure and adapt to risks present and in the future.
Since Build Back Better is the dominant framework for disaster resilience pre and post hazard events, the author frames what is argued to be a strong approach to disaster resilient development based on “five builds” – they are: (1) Build in Better Places, (2) Build Better Places, (3) Build Back Before, (4) Build Back Better, and (5) Build for Multiple Changing Risks. The paper makes the case that all 5 are necessary to move beyond weak resilience characteristic of many disaster recovery efforts in the US to strong resilience.
It next discusses how we get there in coastal communities through 7 key steps: (1) Know Your Exposure, Vulnerability, Risks and Projections; (2) Making Suitability and Vulnerability Analysis the Starting Point; (3) Making Retrofits a Good, Easy and Smart Choice; (4) Making Up to Date or Strongest Codes Mandatory or Too Expensive to Ignore, (5) Making Post-Disaster Resilience Assessment Reports and Debriefs Mandatory for Federal and State Disaster Assistance with actual Learning at its Core (6) Making Pre-Event Recovery Plans Based on Resilience Mandatory for Disaster Assistance and (7) Making Climate Change Risk Assessment a Continuous Part of the Housing Policy Decision Process. The paper concludes with 5 observations on hard truths of resilient coastal development in the era of climate change.
References
Home is Here (2021) Access at: https://hcd.harriscountytx.gov/Portals/hcd/Documents/My%20Home%20is%20Here/-48034192993MHIH_Final_Report_10292021_compressed.pdf?ver=v8RPkPtutqmjpAhEuGpBjQ%3d%3d
NOAA (2017) 2017 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters: a historic year in context, Accessed at: https://www.climate.gov/disasters-2017
| Keywords | Disaster Resilience, Housing, Climate Change |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
