2022 Project
​Devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has embarked on what could be the largest community relocation effort in U.S. history. The 2019 Repair, Reconstruction, or Relocation Program (R3) program, title notwithstanding, disallows in-situ elevation of structures affected in the disaster, which de facto promotes relocation over reconstruction. But the program is operating in a context of high uncertainty, higher than what is typical for disaster recovery.
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The goal of this study is to provide a deeper and more complete understanding of community relocation decisions made under high uncertainty. Disaster studies typically focus on one dimension of community relocation at a time—housing reconstruction and settlement planning, livelihood and economics and policy or program design. But this siloed approach fails to capture how these different relocation dimensions are traded off against each other. The proposed study fills this gap by applying a stakeholder-level lens to factors, interdependencies and tradeoffs behind relocation decision-making. Findings of this study will be used to inform just and equitable policy practices for community relocation in high hazard risk and climate change-affected areas.
The course will spend one week working in Loiza and Comerio to survey bussiness owners that qualify for the Home Repair, Reconstruction, or Relocation Program financed with funds assigned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development of the United States (HUD), which will provide assistance for the repair or reconstruction of bussiness damaged by hurricanes Irma and/or Maria.
Case Study #1: Comerío, PR. Comerío is a small town in the center of the Island, about 45 minutes from San Juan, with 18,598 residents, according to the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS). About 61% are below the poverty level, making Comerío (4 out of 78) of the poorest towns in Puerto Rico (ACS). There wasn’t electricity in the town for over six months. The town flooded because Río La Plata raised by 79.95-foot flood level, which is 50 feet more than has been ever been reported [61]. In Comerío, a total of 4,920 homes located in floodplains applied for FEMA assistance. A total of 4,342 homes were impacted by flooding of the La Plata River, a total of 1,537 were declared total loss and 111 were considered unsafe. Our study focuses on the relocation within Pueblo, a neighborhood with 250 families that forms the downtown of the municipality. According to Municipal staff, 40% of the homes and businesses in this area were severely affected during the hurricane events. Municipal engineers and project managers also report that the identified site for future development would house only 150 families whereas about 300 families meet the criteria for relocation.
Rio La Plata, Comerio
Case Study #2: Loíza. PR. Loíza is a small town of 27,857 people (ACS), located in on the north eastern coast of Puerto Rico and about 45 minutes from San Juan (Figure 3). According to the 2016 ACS, the median income was $18,154 and 46% lived below poverty. The municipality height is only 100 m (328 ft) above sea-level and for decades the municipality has been susceptible to flooding due to sea-level rising and shoreline erosion without protection from levees or floodwalls. The municipality is also surrounded by two rivers (Loíza and Herrera) and most of the developed area lays in the FEMA 100-year floodplain. About 60% of the housing stock in the municipality were significantly affected and require major reconstruction—including irreparable housing units and cases of roof and foundation damage. Our study focuses on relocation experiences with Villa Santos, a neighborhood within Loíza. This community was entirely relocated after Hurricane Hugo (1989), but because the homes were not demolished people came back. The community has about 250 households. Loíza is currently the site of a graduate workshop course offered at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted in collaboration with the Mayor. For this study we also expect to collaborate with Taller Salud, a grassroot health organization active in this community.
