The Devil Is in the Details: Linking Home Buyout Policy, Practice, and Experience After Hurricane Sandy

Abstract

Federal housing recovery policy bounds many of the decisions made by households after a disaster. Within this policy domain, home buyout programs are increasingly used to encourage residents to permanently relocate out of areas considered at risk for future hazards. While buyouts offer homeowners and governments potential benefits, research exploring the impacts of these policies is limited. In this paper, we present an in-depth examination of the community experience of buyouts, a perspective that is noticeably lacking in the literature. Using data from two mixed-method empirical studies, we explored the implications of buyout program design and implementation for Oakwood Beach, New York, a community offered a buyout after Hurricane Sandy. We found that design decisions made at program conception significantly impacted participants' experience of the buyout, including their understanding of program goals and their progression through the buyout and relocation process. We conclude with recommendations for future buyouts, including increased inclusion of affected communities in the process of and pre-event planning for recovery, along with recommendations for future research.

Learning from Historic Disaster Response: Reviewing Old Lessons on Disaster Mental Health

“…However, assisted coping is not counseling as popularly understood, but emphasizes problem‐solving, prioritization of recovery needs, facilitating access to services, advocacy for service provision, and other practical necessities. As others have argued (Elrod et al, ) the timeline for offering services should be extended, since often considerable time passes before people are even aware of what their needs are—and after many events, such as Hurricane Sandy, recovery can be a highly protracted and frustrating process, wherein recovery stress can be as serious as the acute stress of the event (Binder & Greer, ; Cutter et al, ; Peacock, Van Zandt, Zhang, & Highfield, ; Robbins, ; Robertson & Fausset, ; Walsh et al, ; White, ). Consequently, the definition of mental health services should be expanded as well.…”

Managed retreat through voluntary buyouts of flood-prone properties

“…However, substantial uncertainty remains regarding which areas will experience retreat and how it will occur. Studies of economically robust coastal adaptation suggest that retreat will take place in lower-income, more rural areas (6,7), but case studies within the United States have primarily documented retreat in urban areas [e.g., (8)(9)(10)(11)], raising questions about whether predicted patterns of rural retreat will hold true within or across nations. Existing retreat experiences may also offer strategies relevant across international contexts and lessons about revisions needed to meet future demands.…”

Managed Retreat in the United States

“…Most evaluations of managed retreat in the US have focused on the process by which retreat occurred or on a limited set of outcomes, such as whether subsequent damage was avoided. 17,36,38,[82][83][84] Without data on specific management approaches (e.g., whether or not a buyout offered incentives for participation) and outcomes (e.g., where people moved), researchers cannot assess how management approaches lead to specific outcomes or how these approaches could be altered to improve future outcomes.…”