Climate Shocks and the Reallocation of Households and Housing

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

As natural disasters become more frequent and severe, they are reshaping where households can and choose to live. This panel brings together four papers that examine how these shifts affect individual outcomes, housing markets, and neighborhood composition. The first two papers examine the migration patterns of two different populations and question whether households end up "better off" after the disaster, in terms of individual financial well-being, neighborhood characteristics and climate risk.  The first paper follows the longer-term trajectories of households using Section 8 vouchers or living in public housing in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina.  It documents how the shock of the hurricane affected these populations differently based on their migration patterns, both in terms of the neighborhoods they end up in and though measures of household income and housing stability. The second paper explores migration decisions for households after wildfires in California and whether they engage in adaptive migration, or moving to less climate-risky areas.  It also identifies the role that government disaster aid plays in these decisions.   The other two papers delve more into the mechanisms of change.  One examines whether climate risk information affects residential sorting in California, and highlights that information policies affect housing markets and the distribution of households experiencing climate risk.  The final paper explores the prevalence of investor ownership after Hurricanes Sandy and Harvey, providing evidence on the extent to which natural disasters are shifting the available housing stock in two very different housing markets. Together, these four papers create a picture of the impact natural disasters have on the location decisions of affected households, the neighborhoods they end up in, and those they leave. They generate new evidence on the distributional and market effects of climate shocks, with implications for policymakers designing interventions to support climate adaptation in regions increasingly exposed to environmental risk.

Policy Area

• Housing, Community Development, and Urban Policy

Chair

• Agustina Laurito, University of Illinois, Chicago

Discussants

• Seva Rodnyansky, Pew Charitable Trusts

• Katherine Anne Thomas, New York University

Organizer

• Kate W H Harwood, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Individual Presentations

• Hurricane Katrina and the Long-Term Outcomes of Subsidized Housing Recipients in New Orleans - Presenting Author: Kate W H Harwood, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• Adaptive Migration in the Face of Wildfires: Financial Impacts and the Role of Government Aid - Presenting Author: Victoria Wang, Wellesley College

• Sorting Over Wildfire Risk Information - Presenting Author: Michael Fogarty, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• How Do Investors Reconfigure Homeownership in Hurricane Recovery? Evidence from New York City and Houston - Presenting Author: Ruitian Yan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill