Arduous and Unequal: The Fight to Get FEMA Housing Assistance After Helene

New Mexico law would allow wildfire victims to seek compensation for noneconomic damages. But the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency said the federal law that established a compensation fund for a wildfire accidentally started by the U.S. Forest Service limits payments to tangible losses. Now, victims are suing the agency, claiming it improperly denied them compensation that they need to rebuild.

Following the Colombian civil war, the country enacted The Victims’ Law, which centered on providing reparations to those affected by violence and war. But since its creation, the law has only provided reparations to less than 11% of those who have applied, and for women survivors, it’s even less. Women, who are disproportionately affected by war because of the use of sexual assault, are coming together under the National Tablle for Victim’s Participation, are demanding more.

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans' public transportation system had to be rebuilt, but poor planning and the nature of transportation investments means that the new transit system still doesn't work for those who need transit to access jobs and opportunity. The story of New Orleans is one that other cities can learn from to ensure they plan for transportation systems work for everyone.

In the aftermath of Hurrican Helene, hospitals in Western North Carolina are working to keep healthcare services operational with methods like staff adjustments, backup power systems, coordination with local emergency services and creating disaster preparedness plans. These efforts have allowed the hospitals to stay open during the storms and continue providing care to those who need it.

Federal Emergency Management Agency employees are knocking on doors across Vermont to demystify the financial assistance process and help people impacted by flooding apply.

The successful earthquake rebuild model in Christchurch, New Zealand, was a 60-40 cost-sharing agreement between the central government and local governments designed to be centralized and collaborative with contractors doing the rebuilding. This design could be a model for future disaster reconstruction across the country.

The city of Houston is changing its approach to measuring the full scope of damage from Hurricane Harvey so it can get help where it is most needed and improve future flood mitigation. Using data from numerous sources, Civis Analytics found unmet housing needs were far greater than initially recorded and low-income areas were hit disproportionately harder, even though recovery funding often goes to areas with higher housing values. Now city officials are working to implement solutions based on the data in order to allocate limited funds where they will be most effective.

When disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes, strike the recovery can be very expensive. Insurance has been found to be key in order to quickly get funds to help relief efforts.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, necessity has bred an interesting kind of financial invention for the New York MTA: the world’s first “catastrophe” bond - a reinsurance for the insurer - designed to protect public transportation infrastructure, specifically against storm surge. These bonds privatize risk for public gain, creating a kind of tool that may protect economic development against all kinds of natural and man-made disasters around the world.

A 2018 Supreme Court decision allowed states to begin legalizing sports betting, creating a new stream of potential tax revenue to support state programs. However, with gaming operators moving faster than state regulations and legislative processes can keep up, actual revenues in most states that have legalized the practice have lagged behind projections, and rates of problem gambling are also on the rise.