After the flood 75
flexible, and patient; but also assertive and knowledgeable, proactive and
energetic, and able to push-back when offered a lesser outcome than they felt
entitled to. Keeping their own records was thought to be important – one
interviewee described having compiled a database of more than 150 interactions with insurers or their representatives over the two months since the
event. In a different take on the normative discourse of being good because
you are insured, participants felt their personal capacity and qualities enabled them to be good at being insured:
I feel like it takes a lot of assertiveness and persistence to make sure I
got what we deserved and needed.
(Yvette)
In this way, insurance contributed to exacerbating differences in resilience
between people who had the time, money, and capacity to manage the insurance claims process, and people living with existing disadvantage.
Houston: Insurance entwined with inequality
After making landfall on 25 August 2017, Hurricane Harvey made its way
north to Houston where it sat over the city for days. Harvey produced
over 1,270 mm of rain, damaged over 200,000 homes, and caused over US
$125 billion in total damages (Blake & Zelinsky 2018). Over US $9 billion
was paid out through the NFIP in the Houston area, spread between 92,000
insurance claims (US FEMA 2019).
During the nine months following Harvey, we interviewed 38 renters and
homeowners in two Houston neighbourhoods 1 . While physically close, the
neighbourhoods were distinct in their demographic and socioeconomic
make-up: (1) historically Black, lower-income, with equal renter and homeownership rates; (2) majority white, upper-income, and higher renter rates.
While both communities were impacted by Hurricane Harvey, the former
received significantly more damage. Of the interviewees, half the homeowners had flood insurance and nearly all had experience with flood insurance
in the last 15 years. Only one renter had flood insurance, but over half had
some form of contents insurance. The interviewees’ experiences of flooding
and insurance were markedly different depending on socioeconomic status
and knowledge of the insurance system.
While flood insurance has been promoted as a key mechanism in supporting resilience, disparities in insurance and recovery experiences reflect
embedded economic and racial inequities in Houston and other US metros
(Collins et al. 2019; Paganini 2019; Grove et al. 2020). Low-income families
struggle to find affordable flood insurance, so when a flood damages their
home, they must rely on limited savings, charity, and/or government disaster relief. However, these cannot be counted on to arrive at all, let alone
provide a sufficient amount of support to recover.
flexible, and patient; but also assertive and knowledgeable, proactive and
energetic, and able to push-back when offered a lesser outcome than they felt
entitled to. Keeping their own records was thought to be important – one
interviewee described having compiled a database of more than 150 interactions with insurers or their representatives over the two months since the
event. In a different take on the normative discourse of being good because
you are insured, participants felt their personal capacity and qualities enabled them to be good at being insured:
I feel like it takes a lot of assertiveness and persistence to make sure I
got what we deserved and needed.
(Yvette)
In this way, insurance contributed to exacerbating differences in resilience
between people who had the time, money, and capacity to manage the insurance claims process, and people living with existing disadvantage.
Houston: Insurance entwined with inequality
After making landfall on 25 August 2017, Hurricane Harvey made its way
north to Houston where it sat over the city for days. Harvey produced
over 1,270 mm of rain, damaged over 200,000 homes, and caused over US
$125 billion in total damages (Blake & Zelinsky 2018). Over US $9 billion
was paid out through the NFIP in the Houston area, spread between 92,000
insurance claims (US FEMA 2019).
During the nine months following Harvey, we interviewed 38 renters and
homeowners in two Houston neighbourhoods 1 . While physically close, the
neighbourhoods were distinct in their demographic and socioeconomic
make-up: (1) historically Black, lower-income, with equal renter and homeownership rates; (2) majority white, upper-income, and higher renter rates.
While both communities were impacted by Hurricane Harvey, the former
received significantly more damage. Of the interviewees, half the homeowners had flood insurance and nearly all had experience with flood insurance
in the last 15 years. Only one renter had flood insurance, but over half had
some form of contents insurance. The interviewees’ experiences of flooding
and insurance were markedly different depending on socioeconomic status
and knowledge of the insurance system.
While flood insurance has been promoted as a key mechanism in supporting resilience, disparities in insurance and recovery experiences reflect
embedded economic and racial inequities in Houston and other US metros
(Collins et al. 2019; Paganini 2019; Grove et al. 2020). Low-income families
struggle to find affordable flood insurance, so when a flood damages their
home, they must rely on limited savings, charity, and/or government disaster relief. However, these cannot be counted on to arrive at all, let alone
provide a sufficient amount of support to recover.