In a Louisiana neighborhood that residents call Flood City, homes have flooded 17 times over the last 30 years. Officially named Pecan Acres, the majority Black subdivision in New Roads, Louisiana—a city of 4,000 outside of Baton Rouge—was built in the 1970s on low-lying swampland, with the houses sold to buyers who moved from sharecropping land. Most of the residents can’t afford flood insurance. They also can’t afford to move and lose money on homes that no one else wants to buy. But in a government-funded program, the entire neighborhood will be relocated to a new development now under construction nearby on higher ground. The old neighborhood will become a restored wetland.
“What we’re going to do is get these folks moved to a new, safer place where they can have that opportunity to build their family’s wealth that they were robbed of when they bought into this neighborhood,” says Pat Forbes, executive director of the disaster recovery unit at the Louisiana Office of Community Development. The agency is using a combination of disaster recovery funding and funding from a USDA program that supports wetland restoration.
Right now, the type of mass relocation that’s happening in Pecan Acres is unusual. “Funding for projects that move many households all at once is very rare,” says Anna Weber, a policy analyst at the environmental nonprofit NRDC. “It’s not the norm for these kinds of projects. But it seems to be something that people are talking more and more about, and taking more seriously as a potential option, as we see increased risk from all sorts of natural hazards.”
In some areas, it may be possible to make larger-scale changes to help, such as upgrading stormwater systems to deal with more rain or restoring wetlands that can absorb water. Houses can also be elevated. But in other locations, continued flooding may be unavoidable. The government is increasing efforts to buy out houses that repeatedly flood so the land can be left as open space. But it’s a slow process, with little support for homeowners. “The assistance doesn’t extend to helping them find a new home, or, you know, making sure that they can relocate to an area where they’re close to their jobs and their friends and their childcare,” she says. Though the money comes from the federal government, the programs are managed by local agencies; those with fewer resources, which most need the help, are less likely to participate. The total amount of funding available also doesn’t cover the need, with the program oversubscribed each year.
Communities planning this type of move can help ensure that everyone’s protected, versus only the few who can afford to relocate themselves after repeated disasters. But the planning has to happen proactively. “I think what we need to be doing is sort of shifting the conversation from leaving an area that’s at risk and focus instead on what are we moving toward?” says Weber. “What kind of community do you envision 50 years down the line? The physical geography of it might be different, but we have an opportunity now to create something that benefits everyone, instead of just leaving it up to the individual, which is basically the way that our system is designed right now.”