Abstract
Limited funds and the demand for disaster assistance call for a broader understanding of how homeowners decide to either rebuild or relocate from their disaster-affected homes. This study examines the long-term mobility decisions of homeowners in Lumberton, North Carolina, USA, who received federal assistance from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) for property acquisition, elevation, or reconstruction following Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The authors situate homeowners’ decisions to rebuild or relocate in the context of property attributes and neighborhood characteristics. Logit and probit regressions reveal that homeowners with lower-value properties are less likely to relocate, and those subjected to higher flood and inundation risks are more likely to relocate. Additionally, homeowners in neighborhoods of higher social vulnerability—those with a higher proportion of minorities and mortgaged properties—are more likely to rebuild their disaster-affected homes. The authors discuss homeowners’ mobility decisions in the context of the social vulnerability of neighborhoods. Our results contribute to an ongoing policy discussion that seeks to articulate the housing and neighborhood attributes that affect the long-term mobility decisions of recipients of HMGP assistance. The authors suggest that local governments prioritize the mitigation of properties of homeowners of higher physical and social vulnerability to reduce socioeconomic disparities in hazard mitigation and build equitable community resilience.
Highlights
The increasing incidence of disasters along the coasts, combined with the growing proportion of the population exposed to potential disasters, exacerbates the threat of property damage and population displacement
The findings indicate that an increase in the African American, Native American, and Hispanic or Latino populations in a neighborhood decreases the likelihood that Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) recipients will relocate
This necessitates a deeper understanding of the decision-making process of homeowners who receive disaster assistance to rebuild or relocate
Summary
Disasters are commonly defined as “an event concentrated in time and space, in which a society or a relatively self-sufficient subdivision of a society, undergoes severe danger and incurs such losses to its members and physical appurtenances that the social structure is disrupted and the fulfillment of all or some of the essential functions of the society is prevented” [1] The increasing intensity and frequency of disasters prove a growing concern to nations across the globe, but to the United States. In 2017, the number of disasters worldwide (over 700) more than tripled the count in 1980 (slightly over 200) [2]. The Insurance Information Institute estimates over 100 disasters struck the United States in 2018 alone: More than three-fifths were meteorological and hydrological, heightening concern for coastline counties, which house nearly one-third (29.1%) of the nation’s population and are among the fastest-growing counties in the United States [3]
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