This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The storm ends, the fire goes out, floodwaters recede. Long after a natural disaster fades from the headlines, economic aftershocks can still push people out of their communities, not because their homes were destroyed, but because they can no longer afford to remain there.
A new Georgia Tech–led study found that rents were 6.5% to 12.5% higher than expected four years after a disaster. Similar communities that weren't hit did not see the same jump. The findings are published in RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences.
Brian An, an associate professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy within the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, and his team studied two decades of rental housing data and federal disaster records from California and Florida. "We often think of housing as a market that will sort itself out," An said. "But a natural disaster is not a normal market condition.
In those moments, renters can become especially vulnerable." After a disaster, the housing market's usual rules no longer apply. Damaged apartment buildings mean reduced supply. Displaced homeowners enter the rental market while their homes are repaired or rebuilt.
Construction, repairs and insurance all get more expensive. Hurricanes and wildfires led to larger rent increases than earthquakes, flooding and tornadoes. For communities hit repeatedly, each new storm or fire added more rent pressure.
"When rents go up after a disaster, we're not talking about a small segment of housing," An said. "We're talking about the broader rental market. That means the effects reach far beyond the homes that were damaged." For renters, the consequences extend beyond monthly housing costs.
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