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Limited funds and the demand for disaster assistance call for a broader understanding of how homeowners decide to either rebuild or relocate from their disaster-affected homes. This study examines the long-term mobility decisions of homeowners in Lumberton, North Carolina, USA, who received federal assistance from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) for property acquisition, elevation, or reconstruction following Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The authors situate homeowners’ decisions to rebuild or relocate in the context of property attributes and neighborhood characteristics. Logit and probit regressions reveal that homeowners with lower-value properties are less likely to relocate, and those subjected to higher flood and inundation risks are more likely to relocate. Additionally, homeowners in neighborhoods of higher social vulnerability—those with a higher proportion of minorities and mortgaged properties—are more likely to rebuild their disaster-affected homes. The authors discuss homeowners’ mobility decisions in the context of the social vulnerability of neighborhoods. Our results contribute to an ongoing policy discussion that seeks to articulate the housing and neighborhood attributes that affect the long-term mobility decisions of recipients of HMGP assistance. The authors suggest that local governments prioritize the mitigation of properties of homeowners of higher physical and social vulnerability to reduce socioeconomic disparities in hazard mitigation and build equitable community resilience.
Kijin Seong; Clare Losey; Shannon Van Zandt. To Rebuild or Relocate? Long-Term Mobility Decisions of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Recipients. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8754 .
AMA StyleKijin Seong, Clare Losey, Shannon Van Zandt. To Rebuild or Relocate? Long-Term Mobility Decisions of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Recipients. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (16):8754.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKijin Seong; Clare Losey; Shannon Van Zandt. 2021. "To Rebuild or Relocate? Long-Term Mobility Decisions of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Recipients." Sustainability 13, no. 16: 8754.
The American public generally sees its rural communities as autonomous and self-sufficient—inherently resilient. Accordingly, research on federally funded hazard mitigation has disproportionately focused on urban areas, as rural communities rebuild largely by themselves. Our exploratory research challenges this overarching narrative on rural communities by examining disparities in the mitigation process—specifically, the amount of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) assistance awarded per recipient and the duration of HMGP projects—between urban and rural counties from 1989 to 2018. Our analysis reveals vast inequities in the distribution and duration of HMGP assistance between urban and rural counties. Controlling for characteristics of the mitigated properties and corresponding counties, social and physical vulnerability, and climate change factors, we find (a) the amount of HMGP assistance awarded per recipient is higher in urban counties, and (b) projects are completed more quickly in rural counties. Ultimately, our findings indicate that the current structure of the HMGP leaves rural counties in the dust.
Kijin Seong; Clare Losey; Donghwan Gu. Naturally Resilient to Natural Hazards? Urban–Rural Disparities in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Assistance. Housing Policy Debate 2021, 1 -21.
AMA StyleKijin Seong, Clare Losey, Donghwan Gu. Naturally Resilient to Natural Hazards? Urban–Rural Disparities in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Assistance. Housing Policy Debate. 2021; ():1-21.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKijin Seong; Clare Losey; Donghwan Gu. 2021. "Naturally Resilient to Natural Hazards? Urban–Rural Disparities in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Assistance." Housing Policy Debate , no. : 1-21.
Planning interventions have been applied to improve the well‐being, hereafter happiness, of residents. The happiness in shrinking cities, in particular, becomes more critical since urban decline tends to induce an unequal and uneven distribution of care under a limited budget and human resources. Using geo‐tagged Twitter, census, and geospatial data on Detroit, Michigan, which is one of the well‐known shrinking cities in the U.S., the spatial distribution of sentiments, topics of tweets appeared, and the association between neighborhood conditions and the level of happiness were examined. The outcomes indicate that people in Detroit are posting happy tweets more than negative tweets. The downtown area holds both positive and negative hotspots, which are clustered around sports arenas and bars, respectively. Neighborhoods with young and well‐educated residents, situated close to amenities (i.e., recreation facilities, colleges, and commercial areas), and less crime tend to be happier. The use of SNS data could serve as a meaningful social listening tool to reconcile the declining urban vitality of neighborhoods since people interact with those spaces. Negative sentiments are attached to specific neighborhoods with certain conditions so that regeneration efforts should take place in neighborhoods with a higher priority.
Yunmi Park; Minju Kim; Kijin Seong. Happy neighborhoods: Investigating neighborhood conditions and sentiments of a shrinking city with Twitter data. Growth and Change 2020, 52, 539 -566.
AMA StyleYunmi Park, Minju Kim, Kijin Seong. Happy neighborhoods: Investigating neighborhood conditions and sentiments of a shrinking city with Twitter data. Growth and Change. 2020; 52 (1):539-566.
Chicago/Turabian StyleYunmi Park; Minju Kim; Kijin Seong. 2020. "Happy neighborhoods: Investigating neighborhood conditions and sentiments of a shrinking city with Twitter data." Growth and Change 52, no. 1: 539-566.
Tucked in the northeast corner of Corpus Christi, adjacent to one of the nation's largest ports, lies Hillcrest, a low-income and minority neighborhood clouded by a history of segregation, discrimination, and environmental injustice. The siting of heavy industry—refineries and petrochemical and energy companies—along its northern and western borders and infrastructure—an expansive highway—along its southern border have depressed property values, reducing the mobility of homeowners, and disproportionately subjected residents to noise, air pollution, and noxious odors for decades. Upon the completion of the new Harbor Bridge, which will skirt Hillcrest's eastern border, the neighborhood will be enclosed by industry or infrastructure on all four sides, cementing the isolation of its residents from the rest of the city and perpetuating the long-established practice of unduly inflicting environmental burdens on marginalized and disadvantaged communities. In 2015, civil rights lawyers filed a Title VI complaint with the Federal Highway Administration on behalf of two Hillcrest residents. The complaint, which alleged that the adverse health and economic impacts of the proposed route for the bridge would be disparately shouldered by the neighborhood's large and already overburdened African American population, prompted the creation of the 3-year Voluntary Acquisition and Relocation Program, intended to provide restitution for decades of segregation, discrimination, and environmental injustice. The landmark program offers financial assistance and relocation counseling to participating residents who chose to relocate or financial compensation for homeowners who elected to remain. This program provides a model for civil rights, fair housing, and environmental justice advocates to procure more equitable outcomes for communities beset with racial and environmental injustice.
Clare Losey; Kijin Seong; Shannon Van Zandt. Redressing Racial and Environmental Injustice Through a Voluntary Acquisition and Relocation Program. Environmental Justice 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleClare Losey, Kijin Seong, Shannon Van Zandt. Redressing Racial and Environmental Injustice Through a Voluntary Acquisition and Relocation Program. Environmental Justice. 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleClare Losey; Kijin Seong; Shannon Van Zandt. 2020. "Redressing Racial and Environmental Injustice Through a Voluntary Acquisition and Relocation Program." Environmental Justice , no. : 1.