(Mis)trusting the process: how post-disaster home buyout processes can degrade public trust

Nora Louise Schwaller,Mai Thi Nguyen,Leah Campbell,Gavin Smith

doi:10.1007/s11069-021-05153-2

Nora Louise Schwaller, Mai Thi Nguyen + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-05153-2

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Abstract

Federally funded housing buyout programs are the dominant method of government-supported retreat in the USA. Done correctly, buyouts can reduce pre-disaster vulnerability and facilitate post-disaster recovery. However, the success of buyout programs hinges on successful coordination and implementation by local administrators, who represent buyout participants, manage the buyout process at the community level, and connect them to state and federal resources. Because of this, trust between local administrators and the members of their communities is crucial for project participation and successful outcomes. While local administrators play a critical role in the buyout program, their role in building trust throughout the process has been an understudied aspect of the buyout literature. To address this gap, our paper examines the perceptions of local buyout administrators related to trust. This is done through a study of the conditions following Hurricane Matthew’s landfall in North Carolina, USA, in 2016 using in-depth interviews with 18 local HMGP administrators, and an analysis of over 300 local newspaper articles to study how trust is built and lost in the buyout process. Our findings indicate that a lack of program clarity, unclear communication about the program’s guidelines across all levels of governments, and extended time frames deteriorated public trust in a manner that hindered program success and diminished program results.

Highlights

After a presidentially declared disaster, the U.S federal government provides aid and assistance to disaster-affected communities through partnerships with states
A recurring theme found in the data was that the program delays and the lengthy time frame required for program approval and distribution of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds created problems for both residents and local administrators, leading to feelings of frustration
Our interviewees noted that longer buyouts do impose greater stress on participants, and increase the likelihood for the household to be affected by future flooding

Summary

Introduction

After a presidentially declared disaster, the U.S federal government provides aid and assistance to disaster-affected communities through partnerships with states. One part of the recovery process may include relocating households out of risky areas, which allows for both future disaster mitigation for communities and household-level recovery for residents (Binder, Greer, and Zavar 2020) This is typically undertaken through the provision of federal funding through ‘buyout’ programs, the largest of which is the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). This program provides funding to local jurisdictions through state-level governments to purchase significantly damaged homes in the aftermath of disaster declarations from voluntary homeowner participants. While largely considered a cost-saving success (Rose et al 2007), households are often wary of participating because the buyout process can be lengthy, bureaucratically cumbersome, and lack transparency (Binder, Baker, and Barile 2015)

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