New Developments: Shelter from the Storm
By Thom Amdur
5 min read
Millions of families across Texas, Florida, the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast and the Southeast have had their lives upended by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. As I write this column, Hurricane Jose is forming off the Bahamas with an uncertain trajectory. On the West Coast and in “Big Sky Country” more than 21,000 firefighters are working to contain wildfires encompassing more than 1.6 million acres across ten states. Thus far this year, the National Interagency Fire Center has seen more than 49,000 fires engulfing 8.2 million acres. America was already experiencing an affordable housing crisis where, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, more than 39 million U.S. families live in housing they cannot afford and this string of disasters only compounds the problem.
While the American political climate has never been more polarized, one thing that still brings people across the political spectrum together is the recovery effort in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters. In the weeks, months and years to come, we will surely need bipartisan action. At this stage, we don’t know the full extent of the damage and how much housing and infrastructure has been lost, but it is safe to assume that millions of people, young and old, will be at least temporarily displaced and in need of short-term, and in many cases, long-term housing in markets that are already underserved with affordable options. Furthermore, the construction costs will undoubtedly rise as the limited supply of skilled and unskilled construction labor responds to natural disaster.
There is much we can do to provide for people’s short- and long-term needs. In a rare show of bipartisanship, Congress has already taken some initial steps, including a $15 billion disaster relief measure and a short-term continuing resolution, that ensures that immediate disaster relief can flow to impacted communities without “political interruption.” Housing finance agencies have been quick to educate owners about rules that allow them to house displaced families in vacant units at affordable properties. LISC and Enterprise, and many other organizations, have capitalized recovery funds targeting impacted areas. These are great first steps in a long road to recovery. But these problems won’t be solved by these efforts alone.
In the short-term, Congress needs to take several additional steps. It should pass the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2017 (S. 548 / HR 1661). This legislation will bring increased affordable housing resources and make critical technical improvements at a critical moment. Furthermore, Congress should adopt legislation similar to the “Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005,” which provided additional allocations of LIHTCs and NMTCs, as well as an increase in Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits, to help speed recovery. Now more than ever, Congress also needs to update and reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program. With FEMA anticipating claims in excess of $11 billion from Hurricane Harvey alone, and countless additional homeowners uncovered because they were located outside the 100-year flood plain, the program is already strained to capacity with more claims to come.
In the medium- and long-term, our nation needs to embrace the principles of resiliency. Extreme weather events have become commonplace and, for the past 20 years, the development patterns in many communities have often exacerbated the impact of natural disasters. Communities, like Houston, have an opportunity to rebuild as a more sustainable and resilient city. As Jonathan Rose and Richard Florida wrote in a recent City Lab article, “it would be urban malpractice if the region did not also take this opportunity to reimagine its future, and create a long-term vision and plan for greater ecological and economic resilience…addressing both increasingly volatile weather events and creating a more economically sustainable and inclusive development model which lifts the quality of life for all Houstonians.” Our aging infrastructure, including our dams, levees, spillways, as well as roads and bridges, are being pushed to their limits. When, and if, infrastructure legislation is taken up by Congress, we need to do more than replace our existing systems; we must rebuild smarter and probably in different places.
At a property and portfolio level, it is critical that owners adopt a resiliency plan too. At a minimum, this should include proactive disaster recovery and evacuation plans for staff and residents, with special attention paid to vulnerable residents. Considerations should also be made for onsite power generation, battery arrays, landscaping and permeable services that can mitigate the impacts of natural disasters.
These are not small-scale challenges and the solutions will require large investments, extensive time and significant capital. Although, we are not in the disaster recovery business per se, as the industry that houses so many of the most vulnerable people impacted by these types of disasters, we are, in effect, first responders. We must continue to play our part to provide short-term shelter from the storm and long-term solutions to rebuild our lost housing supply with affordability in mind and take steps to mitigate future disasters through smart growth, resiliency and sustainability.
