4: The Fallout of Buyouts

Experts and decision-makers agree: home buyouts are more important than ever. Flood risk for most Houstonians is only getting worse in the wake of climate change and urban development. The problem is that buyouts are a bureaucratic nightmare. Reporter Sara Willa Ernst takes us to two buyout neighborhoods and shows us how people get caught up in that painful process.SHOW NOTES:

• Study on the inequity in buyout outcomes - Kevin Loughran & James R. Elliott at Rice University
• Study on the value of buyouts before houses are built - Kayode Atoba, Galen Newman, Samuel Brody, Wesley Highfield, Youjung Kim and Andrew Juan, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Institute of Disaster Resilience
• Harris County’s SAFE Fund for undocumented buyout participants
• H.R.1917 - Hazard Eligibility and Local Projects Act, filed by Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher