Hurricane Events, Population Displacement, and Sheltering Provision in the United States

Abstract

Displacement has traditionally been conceptualized as a phenomenon that results from conflict or other disruptions in developing or unstable countries. Hurricane Katrina shattered this notion and highlighted the various dilemmas of population displacement in the United States. This paper focuses on the dilemma of postdisaster sheltering and housing as experienced after Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina, and Ike. Methodology and data sources include a review of scholarly empirical research, a Lexis-Nexis search of major laws and regulations passed after the hurricanes, congressional investigations and testimonies, and newspaper articles. Evidence is found of flexible but ad hoc policy response and programmatic changes during the housing recovery process. Given the problems experienced during the recovery process and the lack of attention paid to displacement issues, recommendations are made toward integrating a process approach into current practices to: (1) recognize disaster-induced displaced persons and plan for their differential needs; (2) integrate agency programming at all scales; and (3) implement a holistic yet streamlined process to provide services to disaster-induced displaced persons.