Help Improve the Home Buyout Process after Flood or Fire
This summer 20-25 people with personal experience with home buyouts due to flooding or fire will be meeting together (by Zoom) to talk about ways to make buyouts better for the people who want or need them. Participants will be compensated for their time and effort, and they will have the chance to meet other people who have had similar experiences.
This is part of an ongoing effort hosted by NRDC, the Climigration Network, The Nature Conservancy, and other partners to explore innovative policy and practice solutions to the challenges of home buyouts.
They are looking for people with different kinds of experiences throughout the United States and its territories. Please apply if you are interested and you have already received a buyout, or you tried and it didn’t work out, or you’re trying now. Ideally you would have experience advocating for or against buyouts in your community on behalf of others, as well as yourself.
The group will start by reviewing some proposed ideas to make buyouts faster, easier, and more fair. These ideas were drafted by local and state government employees who manage disaster-response buyout programs in different cities and towns across the country. Community members will review and critique these ideas and add their own suggestions. A final write-up will be shared with everyone who participated in developing the ideas (both community members and buyout managers) and some key officials at FEMA, HUD, and other federal agencies.
The community members will meet three times between June and September, for 2-3 hours each time, and each person will be compensated equally, between $800 and $1,000, depending on how many people are in the group. If you are interested, please fill out this simple, 12-question application: https://forms.gle/1ju2pA6j2Zkmqpe26. It should take less than 10 minutes to complete. You can respond over the phone, if you prefer (see the application form for details). Applications are due by the end of the day on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please contact Shameika Hanson shameika.hanson@tnc.org or Carri Hulet carri@carrihulet.com. They are the organizers and are happy to answer any questions.
