As Supreme Court justices made their decision last Thursday to end the moratorium, one of the largest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. came sweeping in, devastating neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast and Mississippi River. Some of the poorest regions of the country were the hardest hit, and now thousands expect to go without shelter for weeks or even months.
People hid in their attics as water flooded their homes and trees smashed through their windows. Louisiana faced the worst of it, getting pummeled by the strong winds that knocked out power to millions of homes and businesses. Maximum sustained winds hit 150 mph, enough to take down power lines and destroy schools, hospitals, and other buildings.
According to a new analysis from CoreLogic, insured and uninsured losses from Hurricane Ida in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (the most affected states) are estimated to be between $27 billion and $40 billion. For residential and commercial properties in those states, total insured flood loss is estimated to be between $6 billion and $9 billion. More than 90% of losses are estimated to be in Louisiana.
Even before disaster struck, many renters were in a tight spot. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 6% of renters nationwide were “likely” or “very likely” to face eviction due to the pandemic. In Louisiana, one in every five renters were likely to face eviction, and in Mississippi, it was one in every ten. Prior to the pandemic, more than one third of renters in both states were low-income and constantly facing the threat of eviction.
But, some landlords don’t seem to care. Families across the state of Mississippi were given eviction orders just hours after the Supreme Court made their decision last Thursday. Only three days later, Hurricane Ida knocked out power and water systems for more than 1 million people.
The Orleans Parish Civil District Court has temporarily closed their eviction courts until September 19, but local news reports state this is merely because the courts have no ability to process evictions following the hurricane.
As the remnants of the tropical storm make their way up the Eastern Coast, the death toll continues to rise. The associated press reported that the storm killed 46 people from Maryland to Connecticut over the course of one night. Unfortunately, many of them drowned in apartment basements.
As more courts begin to reopen in the aftermath of the hurricane, the mass evictions could give rise to homelessness. Although homeowners have resources available to them through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, renters are not offered such protection. Louisiana and Mississippi happen to have some of the weakest protections for renters. Typically, after storms, landlords manage to evict tenants without following proper legal procedures.
Illegal evictions, also known as informal evictions, occur when the landlord intimidates the tenant by changing the locks or turning off the power without a court order. According to the New Orleans Gambit, this is known to happen frequently, oftentimes disproportionately affecting Black families.
Andreanecia Morris, executive director of the housing advocacy nonprofit HousingNOLA, believes that landlords are more of a threat to people than the hurricane itself. “I think we’re going to see a spike in homelessness as a direct result of informal evictions,” she told Grist reporters, “not the destruction caused by the storm.”
Morris also points out that this eviction crisis is endemic of a much larger concern -- one that is affecting the entire planet. “Climate change is also a housing crisis,” she said. “Mother nature is trying to evict us.”
Experts in the mortgage and insurance industry would have to agree. Natural disasters can significantly disrupt the housing market, making it harder to sell homes and mortgages in disaster-prone areas. As wildfires in California surge and the weather becomes more violent, professionals in the industry will have to start paying attention. In fact, fires in the West and flooding in the South have led FEMA to create disaster declarations, setting new policies and procedures for lenders across the nation.
“With climate change affecting the ocean’s temperatures, we should expect to see more frequent and destructive tropical cyclone activity,” said Tom Larsen, principal, insurance solutions at CoreLogic. “Homeowners and regional public agency leaders should prepare for more resilient city infrastructure and financial protection from catastrophe.”
To learn more about this story, read the article directly from Grist.
