“They're just trying to survive”: The relationship between social vulnerability, informal housing, and environmental risks in Loíza, Puerto Rico, USA

Abstract

Socially vulnerable households across the earth tend to live in informal settlements, which also are likely to be in areas that might experience flooding. Given that since the 1980s there have been more frequent and devastating hurricanes, this study asks what is the relationship between informal housing, social vulnerability, and environmental hazards in the context of a US territory? Although most research on this topic has concentrated in the Global South, there are no studies within the US disaster management system on these environmental justice topics—primarily because housing informality is heavily under studied in the US and the Global North. With the purpose of understanding the connection we conducted qualitative analysis using 30 interviews with stakeholders working on different facets of disaster recovery and mitigation in Loíza, Puerto Rico, a US territory. Loíza is a low-income Afro-Caribbean town along the coast, where about half of the homes are located within the 100-year FEMA flood maps. The findings suggest that changes need to be made regarding how local and federal government entities approach informal housing when providing assistance after the 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria. It is also important for planners and other decision makers to educate communities and provide recovery funding after a major disaster so that long-term risks could be reduce without displacing the local population.