Housing and disaster recovery

Abstract

Recent disasters in Aotearoa New Zealand have affected residential dwellings to varying degrees. Impacted communities have been permanently displaced, housed in temporary accommodations, and experienced a range of flow-on effects on wellbeing.

This is the second in a series of briefs designed for policy analysts. These briefs bring together research on the most effective actions after a disaster. This brief focusses on housing issues that may arise immediately post-disaster. It encapsulates research from a wide variety of sources, researchers, and organisations, detailing key findings on housing in the first three months post-disaster and providing case studies to illustrate these findings. It also identifies where more research is needed.

Out of scope of this policy brief are: creating housing resilience to protect against future disasters, managed retreat and buy-out schemes, improving building resilience, and housing the response and recovery workforce. A separate brief in this series will address insurance.