ABSTRACT

Climate change poses many threats to residential communities throughout the United States, including by contributing to the increased intensity and duration of disasters like hurricanes and other weather events. Government housing policies may either reduce or amplify vulnerability to storm damage. This article explores how state governments guide affordable housing development to address the risk and damage from hurricanes through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. Using document review, we examine LIHTC plans for states most severely and less severely affected by major hurricanes in the past 20 years by comparing plans before and after a hurricane event. The results indicate that severely affected states make relatively few changes to their plans after a hurricane, compared with neighboring less affected states, regarding siting and location, construction techniques, disaster preparedness, or other storm-related responses. The findings suggest a missed opportunity to redirect affordable housing resources to better protect vulnerable residents from the risks of climate change.

摘要

气候变化对美国各地的居民社区构成了许多威胁，包括加剧飓风和其他天气事件等灾害的强度和持续时间。政府住房政策可能会减少或扩大对风暴破坏的脆弱性。本文探讨了州政府如何通过低收入住房税收抵免 (LIHTC) 计划指导经济适用房开发，以应对飓风带来的风险和破坏。通过文件审查，我们通过比较飓风事件前后的计划，检查了过去 20 年中受主要飓风影响最严重和最不严重的州的 LIHTC 计划。结果表明，与受灾较轻的邻近州相比，飓风过后，受灾严重的州对其计划的改变相对较少，关于选址和位置、施工技术、备灾或其他与风暴相关的响应。调查结果表明，错失了重新调整经济适用房资源以更好地保护弱势居民免受气候变化风险的机会。