Voluntary Property Buyout Programs: An Evaluation of Best Practices
A 15-minute talk followed by Q&A with Miyuki Hino, assistant professor, and Mai Thi Nguyen, associate professor, city and regional planning at UNC-Chapel Hill
In the face of rising damages from floods, fires and other climate extremes, communities across the United States are considering retreat: moving infrastructure and households out of dangerous locations to reduce risk. To date, over 40,000 properties across 1,148 counties have been purchased by local governments, with the parcels subsequently preserved as open space.
While such voluntary property buyout programs are principally undertaken to reduce risk from climate hazards, they also function as a form of assisted mobility: helping households move to improve their livelihoods. Housing scholars have developed an extensive body of work addressing if and how such relocations improve wellbeing through evaluations of the Gautreaux, Moving to Opportunity, Housing Choice Voucher and HOPE VI programs.
Hino and Nguyen will discuss evaluating voluntary floodplain buyout programs against key principles from housing programs. Their results suggest that buyout programs have adopted few lessons from housing programs, and implementing these best practices could improve the experiences and livelihoods of buyout participants. As more communities implement relocation for climate change adaptation, it is increasingly critical that these programs also support broader household wellbeing.
