Natural disasters, public housing, and the role of disaster aid Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • AbstractIt has been widely recognized that socially disadvantaged populations are highly vulnerable to natural disasters. Nonetheless, little is known about how disasters affect housing affordability, particularly for those who depend on public housing. Using a national sample of counties over the period 20052016, this study examines the effects of flooding and federal disaster aid on the provision of public housing across the United States. We estimate a panel fixedeffects model with an instrumental variable to account for the endogeneity of disaster aid. Results show that severe floods reduce the number of public housing units, prolong the average waiting time, and increase tenantpaid rents for public housing. Meanwhile, we find that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Public Assistance (PA) aid can help restore the supply of public housing and lower the rents paid by tenants in the aftermath of flood events. Our findings suggest that natural disasters place particularly high stress on the socially vulnerable, and postdisaster aid can alleviate some of the adverse impact of disasters on those who depend on public housing.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE

author list (cited authors)

  • Davlasheridze, M., & Miao, Q.

citation count

  • 8

complete list of authors

  • Davlasheridze, Meri||Miao, Qing

publication date

  • November 2021

publisher