Project
Supporting Puerto Rico's Disaster Recovery Planning
Sep 30, 2020
Puerto Rico's housing sector was hit hard by Hurricanes Irma and Maria and needs a big fix. In this detailed and comprehensive analysis of the housing damage caused by the 2017 hurricanes, the authors make informed recovery recommendations for policymakers so they can repair and rebuild safe and affordable housing in Puerto Rico and create a modernized housing infrastructure that is more resilient to future natural hazards and code-compliant.
Post-Storm Challenges and Potential Courses of Action
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Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017 with devastating impact. The housing sector was hard hit. The storms revealed in harsh detail the vulnerability of Puerto Rico's housing stock to wind, flood, and landslide risk and brought to light many inadequacies in the structure of the housing market.
Through a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the housing damage caused by the 2017 hurricanes, the authors make informed recovery recommendations for policymakers so they can repair and rebuild safe and affordable housing in Puerto Rico and create a modernized housing infrastructure that is more resilient to future natural hazards and code-compliant. The authors begin by examining the state of the Puerto Rico housing sector before Irma and Maria, using census data, detailed geospatial data sets of building footprints, parcel-level data on building characteristics and spatial flood zones, and interviews with Puerto Rico's housing stakeholders. To estimate the damage caused by the hurricanes and determine the post-disaster unmet need, they used two approaches, one based on actual property inspections and a second modeling approach that makes projections of damage based on wind and flood maps. The authors then offer courses of actions to address the remaining needs for recovery, detailing the costs of each action; potential funding mechanisms; and roles for public, private, nonprofit, and academic stakeholders in the housing market. Their recommendations will engage anyone implementing recovery activities in Puerto Rico or involved in community planning for, or recovering from, similar disasters.
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
Overview of Housing Sector and Prestorm Challenges
Chapter Three
Hurricane Damage and Post-Storm and Remaining Needs
Chapter Four
COA Development: An Overview
Chapter Five
COAs That Repair and Reduce the Vulnerability of the Housing Stock
Chapter Six
COAs That Improve Housing Availability for Lower-Income Households
Chapter Seven
COAs That Modernize Housing Market Infrastructure
Chapter Eight
Conclusion
Appendix A
Case Study of the Housing Recovery Task Force
Appendix B
Construction of Isolation Score
Appendix C
Insurance Claims Following Hurricane Maria
Appendix D
Estimates of Mitigation Cost
This research was sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and conducted by the Strategy, Policy and Operations Program within Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Research report series. RAND reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.