Introduction: Recovery, Resilience, Vulnerability, and Justice

Long-term housing recovery among Mexican immigrants: How service providers navigate racialized anti-immigrant disaster recovery policies

“…Peacock and Girard (1997) found that even when racial and ethnic minorities have homeowners’ insurance, they are more likely to have insufficient coverage as a result of red-lining by major insurance companies. Racial and ethnic minorities are also primarily renters, but financial assistance for recovery is largely reserved for homeowners (Jerolleman 2019; Kamel and Loukaitou-Sideris 2004; McConnell 2017; Pastor et al 2006; Peacock et al 2015; Sutley and Hamideh 2020; Zhang and Peacock 2010). The limited financial assistance available to renters includes Disaster Loan Assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) for personal property, such as clothes, furniture, or cars.…”

“…However, they cannot apply for this without first applying and being rejected by SBA, which is incredibly confusing for applicants and serves as another barrier. Other challenges for renters after a disaster includes changes in affordability of rental units as a result of unit shortages due to disaster damages of an already-limited stock and an influx of middle-class homeowners seeking temporary rentals during rebuilding (Jerolleman 2019). Nonetheless, Griego et al (2020) found that the receipt of post-disaster assistance after Hurricane Harvey in Houston among homeowners was not generally effective in addressing household recovery, and households with lower incomes still experienced stunted recovery.…”

“…Indeed, Flores et al (2020) found that undocumented Latine immigrants had more unmet needs and constrained access to resources after Harvey than both whites and U.S.-born or naturalized Latines. Latine immigrants are primarily renters (Hall and Greenman 2013), so they are not eligible for much of the financial assistance available for housing recovery (Jerolleman 2019; Logan 2008; Pastor et al 2006; Peacock et al 2015). Even among homeowners, white homeowners are the main recipients of assistance for several reasons (Drakes et al 2021; Elliott, Brown and Loughran 2020; Howell and Elliott 2018, 2019; Logan 2008).…”

“…In contrast, Latine immigrants, especially those that are undocumented, work hard to remain under the radar, often choosing not to open bank accounts (Suro et al 2002) or sign housing contracts. Second, federal disaster relief programs are designed using a cost-benefit approach intended to compensate for monetary losses to allocate disaster assistance, which privileges areas with higher property values (Jerolleman 2019; Kamel 2012), barring low-income populations, such as Latine immigrants, from assistance. Third, disaster relief programs demand burdensome amounts of documentation from applicants, which Latine immigrant populations are usually unable to present due to their efforts to remain under the radar.…”

“…Third, disaster relief programs demand burdensome amounts of documentation from applicants, which Latine immigrant populations are usually unable to present due to their efforts to remain under the radar. Additionally, FEMA assistance is set up for nuclear families with the one head of household model, excluding nontraditional households (Jerolleman 2019; Morrow 1997). Latine immigrant households often have several families living together due to lack of affordable housing (Hall and Greenman 2013), leaving many in need of assistance with no help.…”