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Today I want to talk about justice in
disaster recovery and hazard mitigation.

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This is a topic that is relevant across
not just the emergency management

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cycle but also in thinking about
disasters and climate more broadly.

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However, I’m focusing in on disaster
recovery and hazard mitigation today

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because these are two areas
in which the disparities are glaring.

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And also two areas in which policy
changes and changes in implementation

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could go a long way towards reducing
these disparities and promoting

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a more just recovery.
In order to really talk about justice,

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it’s important to also talk about equity.
And so what I’m going to do with these

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next three slides is I’m going to
just talk a little bit about

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what I mean when
I talk about equity,

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when I talk about justice, and also
about the concept of human rights.

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I want to do this because I think
it’s important that we start from

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an agreed-upon definition –
an agreed-upon concept.

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Because these large, amorphous ideas,
like justice, are very easy to talk about

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without being certain that we’re
all meaning the same thing

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when we use those terms.
And there’s real harm that’s perpetuated

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when terms are used without paying
attention to what they mean.

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And our ability to measure success
is substantially limited if we

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don’t operationalize what
exactly it is that we mean.

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And so, for equity,
just a very simple definition.

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Equity is freedom
from bias or favoritism.

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It means dealing fairly
and equally with all concerned.

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And this comes from Merriam-
Webster – from the dictionary.

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What does this mean in practice?
In practice, this means having access

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to the networks, the supports,
the resources, and the opportunities

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that people need in order to not
just survive but also to thrive

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and to get to
where they want to go.

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Individual agency is an important
element in thinking about equity.

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And it’s also important to keep in mind
that what an individual needs may vary

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depending upon their circumstances
and their starting point.

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And so what this access
looks like is going to be

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very much
an individual thing.

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What, then, is justice?
It’s very difficult to operationalize

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a concept such as justice.
It’s been talked about dating back

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to some of the earliest philosophers
that we are aware of.

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Over time, the conversation of
what exactly justice is has changed

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and has morphed. Often,
when people think of justice,

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they think of distributive justice –
this Rawlsian idea that justice

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has to do with the
distribution of goods and bads.

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So, for example, constructing
an apartment complex

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in the flood plain may generate
tax revenue for a jurisdiction.

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It may generate some more housing.
It may generate funds – money –

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for the developer.
But it may also generate some bads.

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Depending on what types of
considerations are taken into account

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at the time of construction,
perhaps there are consequences

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to flooding that are only borne by
the residents, who are easily replaced.

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So, thinking about who it is that
benefits and who it is that pays,

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this is foundational to concepts
of environmental justice.

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When you think about things such as
pollution, for example, where you very

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clearly see a concentration of harm –
physical harm, harm to community,

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increased risk – that is particularly
focused on certain neighborhoods,

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certain communities.
And those are very rarely the

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same individuals, communities,
that are benefiting

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from the existence
of the polluting industry.

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Moving from a notion of distribution,
the conversation shifted to really

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thinking about the procedures for
how that determination of where the

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goods and the bads would go was made.
And so that leads us to thinking about

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access. Who has access to the table?
Who has the ability to make

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an informed choice about how the
goods and the bads will be disturbed?

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We may never have entirely equal
distribution, but I think, by and large,

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we can agree that there should be
more of a voice in that determination.

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The notion of participatory justice
stems from that concept as well.

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It’s sort of the next iteration
of thinking that having access

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isn’t enough if there isn’t real
and true and full participation.

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And so that means full and informed
participation, not simply a seat

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at the table, but also thinking
about power structures and

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other incentives and disincentives
that have an impact.

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And finally, the notion of capacities
justice, which is what’s most

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tied to the notion of equity.
And this is the idea of wellbeing.

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The idea that justice means that
an individual is not impeded from

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living their life in the way that is
best for them, that most fits

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with their notion of wellbeing.
And so this very much, again,

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an individual conceptualization
of what a life well lived looks like

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and ensuring that there aren’t
undue limitations imposed upon

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people in that pursuit.

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And this doesn’t mean, of course, that
people can impinge upon each other.

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But it does mean that justice gets
complicated beyond just thinking

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about the most basic distribution
of good and bad.

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And then finally, I just want to talk
about the idea of human rights.

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Human rights are, I’m sure, a concept
the you’re familiar with – the idea that

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there are certain rights that are due to
all individuals, including, for example,

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the rights to food, clothing,
or healthcare, shelter, etc.

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Now, our disaster programs do not
guarantee that people are given

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these basic human rights.
For example, we don’t guarantee

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people housing after a disaster.
Certainly not in the longer term.

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We do often provide assistance
in the shorter term.

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But renters, for example,
are often displaced.

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And so our framework is much more
one of restoring what’s been damaged

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when individuals can show
ownership and when other

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mechanisms, such as insurance,
have been exhausted.

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So now, just to talk briefly about
disaster recovery, and I’m going to

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follow a similar process for both
disaster recovery and hazard mitigation,

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where first, I’ll provide some principles
for what justice might look like in this

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context and then talk
a little bit about what it matters.

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And I’ll wrap up by sort of talking
about how we might get there.

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Because that’s going to be relatively
similar between the two.

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And these four principles for just
recovery stem from prior work

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that I’ve completed.
There’s a book-length manuscript

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that goes into a lot more detail,
but just to have sort of an overview

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of these four principles, the first is
that all community members

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can exercise their agency through
free and informed choice.

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And there are a lot of barriers to this in
disaster recovery. A big one is timing.

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There are so many agencies and
organizations involved in disaster

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recovery that it’s very difficult,
at one point in time, for any

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individual to fully understand
their range of options.

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For example, funding that’s made
available through supplemental

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appropriations, such as the
Community Development Block

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Grants – CDBG-DR disaster recovery
funds – that may not be in place

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for several months, or even
more than a year, after the event.

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And, at that point in time, people
have made decisions around

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elevating their structure if it
was a flood, around moving or not,

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around repairs, and so on.
And so that’s a barrier to

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a true free and informed
choice. And it’s one of many.

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The second principle is that any
different or unequal treatment must

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be justified by the discriminator.
This sort of puts our current processes –

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it flips them on their head.
So right now, we sort of collectively –

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the mechanisms that exist for disaster
recovery – ask individuals to prove

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that they deserve assistance.
They need to prove ownership

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of a structure.
They need to prove damages.

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They need to prove that they had
taken the appropriate measures.

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For example, did they carry insurance
if they were required to do so?

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We don’t ask government to
justify why – for example, right now,

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several months after Hurricane Laura,
there are people sleeping in tents

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and outside in sleeping bags
in Lake Charles because

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they don’t have other
temporary housing available.

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The third is harnessing community
transformative and adaptive capacity

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while honoring community
definitions of resilience.

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This includes, for example,
the right to remain rural.

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Recovery does not look the same
for every individual and for

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every community.
And requiring that a community

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look a certain way, have a certain
economic structure, in order to

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really be considered to have
recovered, is actually very harmful,

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or can be very harmful.
And finally, equal access to resources

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and programs, including full
participation in decision-making

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processes, must be guaranteed.
And this is another place

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in which it can be very difficult.
Many of the programs that exist

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are based off of statutes, and there
has been rule-making, and there are

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a lot of regulations and rules in place,
and there’s not a lot of flexibility.

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And when communities, states,
counties are able to design programs

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for recovery, that’s often done by
external consultants, and it might be

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done while the impacted population
has not yet been able to return

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or is too occupied with the broader
business of recovery to participate.

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And so why does this matter?
Well, there’s a lot of research and

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experience that shows that there are
disparate outcomes in disaster recovery.

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It’s been clear for some time now
that the experience of, for example,

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a renter and a homeowner
is very different.

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There were disparities that were
seen between the recovery for folks

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in Puerto Rico after Hurricane
Maria and Hurricane Harvey.

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Time and time again,
we see these disparities.

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We see people displaced in the name
of risk reduction, displaced because of

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redevelopment or gentrification.
We see recovery dollars used

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for larger economic projects,
development projects,

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while individuals in the
community are struggling.

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We also, as I mentioned before,
have programs that are

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not designed to guarantee
basic human rights.

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And so there’s a disconnect
between what people need

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and what can
actually be provided.

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And furthermore, in many cases –
I would argue in almost all cases –

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historic inequities impact existing
vulnerability and also lessen the ability

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of residents to access recovery dollars.
For example, a community with failing

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infrastructure may have a more
difficult time getting public assistance,

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and that infrastructure may be
in the condition it’s in

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for many reasons,
including historic patterns

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of disinvestment in
certain poor communities.

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Now, thinking about hazard mitigation,
again, this question, right, what is equity

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in the context of hazard mitigation.
This definition actually comes from

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a publication that FEMA recently
released. It’s a how-to guide.

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And the definition here is that equity
is achieved not only when everyone

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is provided full access to information
and assistance, but also when

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interventions are taken to ensure
that all are provided with the resources

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necessary to meaningfully participate,
make progress, and benefit

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from hazard mitigation.
So you can see a lot of similarity here

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to what I talked about for justice.
And so why does this matter?

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Again, research and experience showing
that dollars are not evenly distributed.

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We know that there are tremendous
barriers to access to hazard mitigation

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resulting in the very real situation
where only those who can afford

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to pay a resilience premium
are able to remain in a community,

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are able to be resilient.
We also know that a lot of programs

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that are designed to be voluntary are
not, in practice, always voluntary.

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So, for example,
acquisitions of properties.

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Individuals often feel pressured or
have a lack of alternative options.

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Similarly, risk reduction dollars
can end up supporting gentrification.

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And we don’t tend to follow where
people go when they get displaced.

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We don’t ensure that
they have assistance.

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And so what does
all of this mean in practice?

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What can we do to better promote
justice and equity in both disaster

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recovery and hazard mitigation?
It means, first, thinking about

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the processes that are followed –
not just the mitigation actions

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themselves or the recovery actions.
It means deep engagement with the

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community – real partnerships – to
avoid and identify implicit assumptions.

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It means explicitly recognizing equity
as a goal, measuring outcomes through

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an equity lens and process evaluation.
And so the ability to really pause

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and check and revise
as these processes are ongoing.

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Because it often, in practice, feels a little
bit like the proverbial train wreck, right,

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where you’re watching, for example,
with the recent hurricanes in the

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Gulf Coast, high percentages of
denials of individual assistance.

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And we’re not necessarily stopping
to see why that’s the case or

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what can be done about it.
It means taking the time to understand

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the historic drivers of risk
in communities and figuring out

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how to engage those
whole community,

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including activists and
key community leaders.

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There are some great resources
here that you can take a look at.

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I mentioned the guide
for equity in mitigation.

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Some great toolkits.
And other resources as well.

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Thank you.