As the world’s temperatures rise, extreme climate events like severe heat, wildfires, and flooding, are occurring more frequently. These events can have a devastating and costly impact on the communities affected.
The purpose of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is to help communities hard hit by disaster by providing aid to rebuild and prevent future damages. Unfortunately, a 2019 NPR investigation revealed that the federal disaster aid disbursed by FEMA disproportionately favors the white and wealthy, regardless of need.
The investigation found that after a disaster Black households’ wealth declined on average while white residents grew wealthier. Part of the reason behind this disparity lies in FEMA’s cost-benefit calculations, which are designed to minimize taxpayer risk. Residents that own their own homes receive more aid, residents that have high incomes can claim substantial tax refunds from the IRS (while the lowest incomes families can claim nothing at all), and residents that have good credit are more likely to secure loans to rebuild. What happens next is a faster recovery for affluent neighborhoods and a sluggish recovery for communities in need.
In addition, programs like the FEMA buyout program, provide opportunities specifically for homeowners. The buyout program allows homeowners to volunteer to sell their homes to FEMA: providing them with funds to relocate. FEMA then converts the land for use in reducing future disaster risk (e.g., creating a green space to reduce flood risk). These buyouts are awarded in predominately white neighborhoods where more families own their homes.
Low-income and communities of color face a disproportionate burden when it comes to the impacts of climate change. Aid from organizations and agencies like FEMA should be designed to help the communities that need it most. Federal policy can exacerbate existing wealth and race disparities in the United States, or it can help to right historical wrongs. Including equity considerations in aid calculations will balance the scales and ensure that the communities that are hardest hit by extreme climate events receive their fair share of aid, regardless of their income, credit background, or property-ownership status.
