Weather or Not: Tracking Hurricanes and Changes to Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program Plans

Climate change poses many threats to residential communities throughout the United States, including by contributing to the increased intensity and duration of disasters like hurricanes and other weather events. Government housing policies may either reduce or amplify vulnerability to storm damage. This article explores how state governments guide affordable housing development to address the risk and damage from hurricanes through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. Using document review, we examine LIHTC plans for states most severely and less severely affected by major hurricanes in the past 20 years by comparing plans before and after a hurricane event. The results indicate that severely affected states make relatively few changes to their plans after a hurricane, compared with neighboring less affected states, regarding siting and location, construction techniques, disaster preparedness, or other storm-related responses. The findings suggest a missed opportunity to redirect affordable housing resources to better protect vulnerable residents from the risks of climate change.