RAPID: Exploring the Design and Implementation of Buyout Programs in Post-Disaster Settings

这个快速反应研究(RAPID)项目考察了地方政府机构如何在美国开发、设计和实施住房买断计划。房屋买断计划旨在通过将居民重新安置在容易发生飓风、洪水或其他危险的地区，永久性地降低灾害的脆弱性。买断通常由联邦政府提供资金，但由州、县或市政机构实施。这些计划的设计、向公众传达和执行的方式决定了它们是否达到了减轻未来灾难的目的。然而，目前，地方政府机构经常难以实施买断，因为指导方针不明确，而且这类计划缺乏商定的、有充分依据的做法。即使有了这一限制，买断也越来越被认为是改善反复遭受灾难的社区未来的最佳解决方案。因此，这项科研贡献支持了美国国家科学基金会的使命，即促进科学进步和提高我们的国家福利，这些利益将为改善美国社区，特别是洪灾的复原力的规划提供信息。该项目通过快速赠款机制提供资金，以审查2017年德克萨斯州哈里斯县(包括休斯顿市)发生严重洪灾后目前正在进行的住房买断计划。这个项目在微观层面上考察了灾后房屋买断计划初始阶段的关键过程，考察了德克萨斯州哈里斯县的决策和结果。本项目使用对政府利益相关者和受影响居民的半结构化、定性访谈、观察数据以及对内部和公共计划文件的内容分析，以解决文献中确定的两个关键理论问题。首先，它将加深对买断计划性质的理解，因为它们被设计为缓解计划，被政府机构视为缓解计划，但在时间压缩的恢复期实施，被居民视为恢复的工具。其次，它将通过研究执行机构如何计划将收购财产重新纳入公共所有权和使用来促进收购后土地使用和管理的文献。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project examines how local government agencies develop, design, and implement home buyout programs in the United States. Home buyout programs are intended to permanently reduce vulnerability from disasters by relocating residents away from areas that are prone to repeated hurricanes, flooding, or other hazards. Buyouts are typically funded by the federal government but implemented by state, county, or municipal agencies. How these programs are designed, communicated to the public, and carried out determines whether they achieve their purpose of mitigating against future disasters. Currently, however, local government agencies frequently struggle to implement buyouts because guidelines are unclear and there is an absence of agreed, well-founded practices for this type of program. Even with this limitation, buyouts are increasingly considered the best solution for improving the future for communities that experience repeated disasters. This scientific research contribution thus supports NSF's mission to promote the progress of science and to advance our national welfare with benefits that will inform planning to improve the resilience of United States communities, in particular to flooding. This project is funded through the RAPID grant mechanism to examine the home buyout program currently in process following the severe 2017 flooding in Harris County, Texas, which includes the city of Houston. This project examines at the micro level, the critical processes in the initial phases of post-disaster home buyout programs, examining decisions and outcomes in Harris County, Texas. This project uses semi-structured, qualitative interviews with government stakeholders and affected residents, observational data, and content analysis of internal and public program documents to address two key theoretical questions identified in the literature. First, it will further the understanding of the nature of buyout programs, as they are designed as mitigation programs and perceived as such by government agencies, but implemented in the time-compressed recovery period and viewed by residents as vehicles of recovery. Secondly, it will contribute to the literature on post-buyout land use and management by examining how implementing agencies plan to reintegrate buyout properties into public ownership and use.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.