The ‘Old American Dream,’ a Trap as the Floods Keep Coming

An article in the New York Times highlights the experience of homeowners in Houston's poorest neighborhoods as they struggle to bounce back from climate-related natural disasters. As frequent flooding, and most recently last month's winter storm, have continued to hit communities, low-income communities are the slowest to bounce back, if they do at all. Poorer residents, who may not possess insurance and cannot afford to re-locate, are left at the mercy of government relief programs which can be slow-moving and unpredictable. 

"A storm, as it cuts its path, may not recognize race or class, but the pace of recovery very often does. It is an imbalance that becomes more pronounced with each storm: There are the neighborhoods that bounce back. And there are the others — with lower incomes and largely nonwhite residents — where every event arrives as another setback on an interminable slog."

The ‘Old American Dream,’ a Trap as the Floods Keep Coming, New York Times