What is it about?
The federal government distributes money after disaster for housing assistance. Katrina used caseworkers to help, and since then the federal government has decided to make caseworkers possible in other disasters. Some people will do fine without caseworkers, some will get on their feet with a little help, and some have longstanding problems making it very difficult to help, yet caseworkers can be expected to. This paper traces casework after Katrina from the point of view of the workers, federal government evaluations, and some of the people who needed help.
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Why is it important?
We see many extreme weather events, and can expect that many other people will continue to need cash disaster assistance for housing. Disaster assistance fits a public expectation after 1996 that help for the poor will be temporary and focused on getting people to work. We need to understand how different participants experience the assistance.
Perspectives
All of us who worked on this project found the stories we heard to be very powerful. People we spoke to had been displaced from the Gulf Coast, could not imagine going back, but many were having a difficult time resettling. Caseworkers found being thrown into the middle of a new government program that frequently changed to be hard work.
Professor Susan M Sterett
Virginia Tech
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Disaster, Displacement, and Casework: Uncertainty and Assistance after Hurricane Katrina, Law & Policy, January 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/lapo.12029.
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