Housing recovery is the recuperation process of the housing infrastructure, maybe after a disaster or emergency management. Housing recovery involves rehabilitation activities to complete the construction of the housing infrastructure that facilitates the re-establishment of the affected population. Housing recovery is the centerpiece of disaster recovery and has excellent use and relevance to affected communities. However, despite its significance and use, housing recovery often poses challenges that cannot be termed any less formidable to emergency managers and other stakeholders; this calls for delving into the associated complexities of emergency management, examining the attendant problems, delving into relevant case examples, and proposing attendant recommendations for addressing the challenges.
The recovery of housing is based on the doctrine of emergency management. The multifaceted accommodation aims to rehabilitate and redevelop residential structures, recovering them from the damage or destruction caused by disasters (Mukherji, 2017). It involves affecting housing impacts, facilitating alternative temporary shelters, coordinating rebuilding, and assigning access to housing arrangements for those affected. Critical stakeholders on whom the restoration of the housing hovers include governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, NGOs, community-based organizations, private sector organizations, and the victims.
The major challenge that emergency managers and other stakeholders face in the recovery of the housing phase would be the scale of the task; disasters usually leave so many, if not millions, of affected people homeless and begging for help (Mukherji, 2017). Hence, coordination to address such massive housing needs has always been a serious logistical and operational challenge for emergency management agencies. Furthermore, recovery in housing will often have intricate interplays not only with other sectors, e.g., infrastructure, healthcare, economic development, etc., but also with some of those factors; for instance, the availability of affordable housing may impact, among other things, the pattern of population resettlement, community cohesion, and long-term socioeconomic recovery (Mukherji, 2017). Juggling these interrelated priorities will require a grounded local context and collaboration across diverse stakeholders.
The challenges of housing recovery are even more significant to housing managers because they reverberate through multiple dimensions and impact the emergency manager and other stakeholders differently (Bilau et al., 2017). The housing recovery coordination engages the emergency manager in several bureaucratic processes, resource scarcity issues, and competing time priorities. Timely access to housing assistance is often hampered by chronically short funding coupled with bureaucratic red tape and jurisdictional complexities that delay timely support for housing and further add to community suffering.
This, along with uncertainty and unpredictability related to disaster situations, determines one of the most challenging factors for emergency managers in planning and executing recovery operations and housing efforts (Bilau et al., 2017). In such highly dynamic conditions, for example, a change in the size of the displaced population and rapidly changing conditions in terms of infrastructure, the agile and adaptable housing recovery can be adjusted to keep pace with such developments (Bilau et al., 2017). However, weak preparedness and contingency plans undermine the effectiveness of response and recovery efforts.
Another way emergency management affects stakeholders is that, compared with the emergency management agencies, the other category of partners engaged in housing recovery faces varied challenges (Bilau et al., 2017). For instance, rebuilding infrastructure, revitalizing the economy, and meeting social welfare demands amidst fiscal environments full of tight constraints are just a few of local governments’ daily hassles (Bilau et al., 2017). It is a peculiar finding: mobilizing non-profit organizations and community groups is always challenging, and they often need more resources and volunteers to meet the diverse needs of the disaster-affected population.
Numerous real-world examples vividly illustrate the challenges of housing recovery in emergency management. An example of the consequences of disaster could be given in the case of Hurricane Katrina, which took place in the Gulf Coast region of the United States in 2005 (Fussell & Lowe, 2014). Massive floods and destruction from the storm displaced hundreds of thousands of people, but the largest damage occurred to housing infrastructure. One of the big challenges faced by the managers during the emergency was providing enough housing assistance to displaced households and people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (Fussell & Lowe, 2014). The process also experienced tangles like delays in the disbursement of federal funds, sluggish assessment of housing damage, and poor coordination between many government institutions; hence, these retard the process of returning lives to normalcy (Fussell & Lowe, 2014). Thousands of the inhabitants were made to live in makeshift shelters or build houses from temporary materials that became permanent months after the disaster. This further aggravated social tensions and hampered the efforts of community recovery.
Another example of this is the earthquake experienced in Haiti back in 2010 (Mix et al., 2011). The earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010 proved to lead to the catastrophic loss of human lives and, more so, to the destruction and loss of a colossal amount of housing stock (Mix et al., 2011). The disaster left millions of Haitians without a home and living poorly in makeshift tent camps. Despite international help and the inflow of humanitarian assistance into the country, housing rebuilding was very strong due to poor management, corruption, and political turmoil (Mix et al., 2011). Indeed, the protracted nature of housing in Haiti highlighted that further international support was required following activities for capacity building and community empowerment. However, the aid delivery was so fragmented and the priorities of donors in competition, with local ownership lacking, that it, therefore, crippled the reconstruction efforts from proceeding effectively and plunged the disaster-affected populations into further suffering.
In emergency management resolution, the challenges of housing recovery are pertinent tasks with diverse implications. The first thing to acknowledge is that there is no coincidence that access to safe and adequate housing is guaranteed by fundamental human rights and not “just some nice bonus (Harris, 2020). Therefore, the house forms the basic unit for good individual and community well-being by providing protection, physical safety, dignity, and security. Underinvestment in housing restoration work may deepen current social inequalities and displace further fuel on the fire, with a setback in long-term recovery efforts (Harris, 2020). Furthermore, the lack of stable housing puts displaced people and families at higher risk of exploitation, health hazards, and psychological distress, underscoring the need for effective housing recovery programs.
Houses stabilize social networks, educational possibilities, and other aspects of life, not just shelters. It destroys social networks, education, economic stability, and shelter (Harris, 2020). For instance, homelessness puts children at risk of not only accessing education but also receiving a decent education without interruption, which often perpetuates poverty cycles. Instability in housing hinders healthcare access and strains public health systems. Housing stability benefits social cohesion and community resilience (Harris, 2020). Displacement breaks social bonds, limits belonging, and threatens community fabric by diminishing contacts and impeding group efforts to recover and rebuild. It may provide immediate shelter and support community growth when prioritizing housing recovery. Stable housing allows people and communities to prosper and participate more in economic, social, and civic life.
Therefore, recovery in the housing of emergency management involves much more than just rebuilding the structure; it is a matter of human rights, social equity, and community resilience (Harris, 2020). Bringing housing recovery into the tent of disaster recovery efforts would allow emergency managers and other stakeholders to draw attention to the downside risks of displacement, build social cohesion, and lay the foundation for a more resilient and inclusive future.
Here are several emergency management housing recovery recommendations that can solve challenges:
Enhance Preparedness and Planning: Preparedness and contingency planning for housing recovery should receive the most attention from emergency management agencies (Houser, 2022). They should include the risk assessment, pre-positioning of resources, and development of evacuation plans to ensure quick response and recovery.
Strengthen Coordination and Collaboration: There is a need to coordinate effectively and collaborate between government agencies, NGOs, community organizations, and private sector organizations to bring housing recovery efforts on board optimally (Houser, 2022). Formulating multi-agency task forces, resource coordination, and technology utilization can enhance recovery operations, ensuring time efficiency and effectiveness.
Promote Equity and Inclusion: We must approach housing reconstruction with equity, inclusivity, and social justice to avoid disproportionately burdening these vulnerable and marginalized social groups (Houser, 2022). This will mean prioritizing the interests of low-income people, disabled people, older people, and other special needs groups in society during recovery and resource allocation.
Long-Term Investment in Affordable Housing Infrastructure is critical to enhancing the community’s resilience to future shocks and disasters (Houser, 2022). These include incentivizing resilient housing units and giving mixed-income housing development to mechanisms allowing low-income households access to affordable housing finance.
In conclusion, housing recovery in emergency management presents very strong challenges that will require the concerted efforts of emergency managers and all the stakeholders to help solve them. Equally important will be the need to improve coordination and collaboration, equity, and inclusion in community capacity building. In this regard, continued efforts at affordable housing infrastructure investment and a special focus on community resilience may improve the effectiveness and equity of housing recovery, leading to community development and resilience in disasters.
Bilau, A. A., Witt, E., & Lill, I. (2017). Analysis of measures for managing issues in post-disaster housing reconstruction. Buildings, 7(2), 29.
Fussell, E., & Lowe, S. R. (2014). The impact of housing displacement on the mental health of low-income parents after Hurricane Katrina. Social Science & Medicine, 113, 137–144.
Harris, J. (2020). Alternative approaches to resolving housing disputes.
Houser, R. S. (2022). A Collaborative Model for Equitable Response and Recovery in Emergency Management. Journal of Emergency Management and Disaster Communications, 3(02), 57–81.
Mix, D., Kijewski-Correa, T., & Taflanidis, A. A. (2011). Assessment of residential housing in Leogane, Haiti, and identification of needs for rebuilding after the January 2010 earthquake. Earthquake Spectra, 27(1_suppl1), 299–322.
Mukherji, A. (2017). Post-disaster housing recovery. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science.