Just and Equitable Rebuilding of Cities After Disasters

About

Months after evacuating from catastrophic storms, millions of Americans from Puerto Rico, Houston, Florida, and other places are still figuring out how they can get back home. In Puerto Rico alone, tens of thousands of people are displaced, with their homes destroyed and no relief in sight. Even before Hurricane Maria struck, Puerto Ricans were already overwhelmed by austerity policies and the economic crisis, which created barriers to accessing water, food, housing, healthcare, education, and other basic human rights.

With the looming threat of privatization, city officials are developing plans for rebuilding and how they will—or will not—secure housing for displaced residents. Many uprooted families will face considerable financial and institutional barriers to moving back to their communities, such as the lack of affordable rental housing and resources to rebuild their homes. With already existing economic and infrastructural disparities, how can low-income immigrants and communities of color who evacuated from these devastated areas afford to come home?

Join us for this webinar to learn from previous equitable development efforts and the current recovery needs of Puerto Rico and other impacted communities.

We will hear from experts on post-disaster solutions and the challenges of previous storms to give us a glimpse of how disasters can radically change the demographics of places. We will discuss why advocating now for equitable recovery, housing, and development policies is critical to the sustainable, long-term recovery of these communities.

MODERATOR:

• Mary Ann Gabino, Senior Vice President, Puerto Rico Community Foundation

SPEAKERS:

• John Henneberger, Co-Director, Texas Housers (Houston)
• Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director, UPROSE (Puerto Rico/NYC)
• Lyvia N. Rodríguez Del Valle, Executive Director, ENLACE (Puerto Rico)
• Andreanecia Morris, Executive Director, HousingNOLA (New Orleans)