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Relatively speaking, recovery after the 1994 Northridge earthquake was quick and complete, though certainly unequal across space and demographics. One of the main reasons for this was the high vacancy rates for apartments and other rentals at the time of the earthquake. This made it easy to provide temporary and long-term housing for those who lost the service of their residence.
The New York Times today has a story about the severe lack of available rental units in New Orleans and possibly related effects like increased homelessness. Obviously there are many differences between Northridge and New Orleans -- a moderate earthquake and a catastrophic storm surge. But in the seemglingly national push to convert apartments to condos, I think we shouldn't forget the role of a flexible rental stock in recovery and resilience.
Monday, December 3, 2007
The Role of Rentals in Recovery
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Just to add another layer onto the New Orleans case, there is the crucial issue of public housing. Last I checked, the Housing Authority of New Orleans, HANO, was still refusing to refurbish low-income rental and Section 8 housing stock, much of which was structurally sound and with little and even no flood damage. Fences around these apartments kept people from retreiving their personal effects. Moreover, rental prices in New Orleans post-Katrina skyrocketed and the lack of this low-income housing stock only exacerbated the problem. Add to this that until recently, most of the recovery aid has been directed at home-owners rather than renters and small-scale landlords and you've got a real mess. Recently LA has pushed through recovery support for landlords of one and two unit places, the mom and pop of rentals. This may help alleviate the housing shortage, but for many renters its too little too late.
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