How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities

After hurricanes, fires or other natural disasters destroy a community, “post-disaster gentrification” often leaves the rebuilt neighborhoods looking far different socially and economically than they did pre-calamity. The high costs of rebuilding homes and purchasing expensive homeowners insurance often pushes out the original working-class or middle-class residents, who are replaced by younger, wealthier residents. Inside Climate News reports: 

In the early 2020s, U.S. Census Bureau surveys identified who was least likely to return to a community following a natural disaster. Black and Latino households were more likely never to return compared to white households. Renters, the poorest households and people who didn’t finish high school were less likely to return than households in higher income and educational brackets. People with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community also were more likely never to return, according to the bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.

After a disaster, local officials often look to rebuild neighborhoods under stricter codes so that new homes can weather future extreme weather events, but this strategy often “conflicts with the need to find housing for displaced residents,” Mike Schneider writes for Inside Climate News.