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PUBLISHED:

Levine, J., Esnard, A-M & Sapat, A. (2007). Population Displacement and Housing Dilemmas due to Catastrophic Hurricanes. Journal of Planning Literature, 22(1):3-15.
Abstract: As Hurricane Katrina revealed, coastal communities have become far more vulnerable to tropical storms and the long-term displacement of residents. Yet, because the emergency management model presumes that recovery quickly follows response, governments focus only on short-term, localized displacement. However, long-term and long-distance displacement exposes a gray area between immediate shelter and permanent housing, along with concerns about vulnerability, housing availability, and land development. We begin this article by discussing the transition between response and recovery. We then review literature regarding social vulnerability, displacement, provision of temporary housing, households' return decisions, and disaster-driven land development and housing construction processes. We close with thoughts on future research to increase planners' understanding of the issues involved and to help them craft effective policies.

Welsh, M.G. and  A-M Esnard. Closing gaps in local housing recovery planning for disadvantaged displaced households. Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research  (accepted and forthcoming)

Abstract: Severe hurricane disaster events can leave the most vulnerable and disadvantaged households of a community displaced and in limbo for several years after the event.  Long-term recovery coalitions and committees with roots in voluntary non-profit and faith-based organizations are springing up nationwide to fill unmet needs of displaced households after local, state and federal agencies have completed their initial recovery missions. In South Florida, Broward County’s recovery experience following category 1 hurricane Wilma in 2005 demonstrated the valuable role that these coalitions  played in reintegrating displaced   households into strong, recovering communities.  However, scaling this success to deal with  severe and damaging storms that displace far more disadvantaged households requires a coordinated pre-disaster recovery planning framework. Long-term recovery coalitions, as currently structured, cannot design such planning frameworks.  In this article, we make the case for a more formal independent planning agency dedicated to integrating coordinated housing recovery scenarios and priorities into municipal comprehensive plans as they evolve.

WORKING PAPERS:

Note: Some of these manuscripts are under review by Journals

Topic/Title: Hurricane Events and the Displacement Process in the U.S.

Displacement has traditionally been conceptualized as a phenomenon that results from conflict or other disruptions in developing or politically unstable countries. Hurricane Katrina shattered this notion and highlighted the various dilemmas of population displacement in the U.S., and the need for ongoing dialogue and research about what is displacement, who is displaced, when this state ends, implications for host communities, and institutional responses. Our paper examines institutional frameworks of hazard event response as compared to the experiences of displaced-persons and the long-term recovery process, using sheltering experiences during Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina, and Ike. We find that disaster management agencies seek to manage displacement using a rigid hazard event framework– one that assumes a linear and orderly timeline and interaction between the traditional disaster management cycle and the displacement process. In reality however, a process framework should be adopted – one that is based on identifying predisposition to displacement of households and their differential recovery timelines during the post-disaster period. We make the case for “why it matters”, but acknowledge policy and implementation constraints in the concluding section.

Topic/Title: Policy Learning: Katrina, Ike and Post-Disaster Housing

Hurricane Katrina has spawned a great deal of research on various issues, including reasons for the failures in preparation and response. Less attention has been paid however, to scholarly analyses of policy learning with regard to post-disaster housing changes that followed Katrina. Policy outcomes resulting from the implementation of housing policy changes made after Katrina also need more attention. The focus of this paper is to fill that gap by analyzing policy learning and implementation in post-disaster housing. In particular, we analyze the extent of policy learning and the impact of policy changes adopted after Katrina by focusing on the response three years later to Hurricane Ike, using a comparative framework and document analysis. We conclude by critically analyzing policy learning, change, and implementation in this domain through theoretical insights drawn from the policy literature and recommend some policy and planning considerations in our conclusion. 

Topic/Title: The Housing Dilemmas of Pre-Katrina Residents of New Orleans: From Finding Shelter to Making Home

This paper explores the chronology of housing problems created by Hurricane Katrina and the failure of critical protective floodworks. We have limited our time frame to six months – from August 30, 2005 to March 1, 2006. This period stretches from the day after Katrina until Mardi Gras, which offered an early marker of the city’s nascent recovery. We begin by briefly reviewing the literature regarding post-disaster shelter and housing with an eye toward event sequence and interdependence. We then provide a narrative of events in New Orleans, organized by five major themes based on expectations drawn from historical experience: temporary shelter; temporary housing; property and flood insurance; the plight of renters, in particular those needing low-cost housing; and post-disaster recovery planning. Following this, we offer a new narrative that describes emerging problems and themes with respect to scale, public housing policy, the choice between emphasizing temporary housing and providing permanent housing, interdependencies between housing and other forces, human rights, property rights, political competition and coordination, policy learning, and magnified uncertainty. We conclude by offering some lessons for future research and policy development.

Title: An Adaptive Vulnerability Model for Disaster Mitigation: Focus on Scaled Poverty Indicator and Measures: Case Study of Galveston County, Texas

Current vulnerability models consistently incorporate the federal standard of concentrated poverty as a primary indicator of vulnerability. This paper seeks to illustrate the importance of both the inclusion of relative poverty measures within vulnerability research and the utility of scaling indicators of poverty such as income and basic needs expenditures. Galveston, Texas, is utilized as the case study. The livelihoods approach is drawn on for understanding household assets and how stresses and shocks contribute to a cumulative vulnerability or resilience within the asset structures of the household. The paper presents the utility of this approach using only a few indicators for illustrative purposes: income; rental expenditure; and food expenditure per household within Census Block Groups in Galveston County, Texas. Analysis indicates that up to forty percent of households live in relative poverty yet earn over the federal poverty line. These households are excluded in common vulnerability models, yet are as vulnerable to the cumulative impacts of natural hazards as those living below the poverty line.

STUDENT THESES AND DISSERTATIONS:

Welsh, M. (2008). Planning for Potential Displacement of Disadvantaged Households Due to Hurricane Impact: A Focus on Broward County, FL. Working Paper- Florida Atlantic University, School of Urban and Regional Planning.