MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Ashley Prince and her family have been chasing “normal” for years.
Two years ago, the tornado that ripped through Mayfield peeled off the roof of their rental property “like a Band-Aid.” She and her fiancé, Dylan, watched from inside as the mile-wide storm toppled the water tower behind their home, pummeling it in rapid succession. The ordeal left him with a severely injured leg.
What followed was a months-long journey to put their lives back together. This meant spending about a year with Ashley’s parents, followed by a year in temporary housing where they currently live.
This will become even more common as climate change multiplies and intensifies extreme weather events, disaster experts say. Scholars note that a relief system in the United States is relatively well equipped to receive aid in the immediate aftermath of disasters, but is not designed for the long term or for worsening conditions caused by global warming. On top of this crisis, another difficult problem has been added: the serious lack of affordable housing across the country.
This landscape puts low-income renters like the Princes among those least prepared for the climate future to come. Using flooding as a case study, MIT research has shown that disasters lead to increases in rental prices and an increase in evictions for low-income tenants.
“People are not prepared to think about a potential disaster when they are living in an unstable situation on a daily basis,” said Smitha Rao, an assistant professor at Ohio State University who works on the front lines of disaster relief. before examining it.
After a disaster, families often have several options for rebuilding, said Michelle Meyer, associate professor and director of the hazard mitigation and recovery research institute at Texas A&M University. If they have homeowners or renters insurance, they can file a claim with the company. There are also sources of financial aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which just last month changed its application process to make its grants more accessible.
Families can also apply for loans from the U.S. Small Business Association, but applicants must meet eligibility requirements and repay the loan. In addition, local community organizations often provide food, clothing, and other assistance, sometimes even weeks or months after the disaster.
But when these programs begin to taper off over a period of a year or two, many families are still not on the verge of recovery. Volunteers and local organizations are filling the gaps with extended temporary housing and new permanent housing. However, as the number of volunteers decreases, they also face difficulties.
In Mayfield, some programs have made headway in the few dozen homes families have begun moving into. But the hurricane destroyed hundreds of homes, hitting rental homes the hardest.
Helping families regain their independence is part of the mission of Camp Graves, a nonprofit organization that provides temporary housing where the Princes now live.
But people in vulnerable populations are especially at risk of losing these opportunities. All seven families currently on the waiting list for Camp Graves are Hispanic, black, multiracial or single-parent, office manager Cassy Basham said. Additionally, residents with existing medical conditions or disabilities say they face additional challenges finding accessible housing.
The intersection between affordable housing and climate change can be felt everywhere, experts say. Mennonite volunteers working on housing in Mayfield saw this firsthand as they recounted previous experiences in hurricane-prone areas of the South repairing leaky roofs covered with tarps, in some cases for as long as two years.
Meanwhile, temporary housing in Mayfield is a safe haven for many. On a snowy day in January, Ashley sat at the kitchen table with her children and helped them with homework. This is the kind of moment they hope to have more of when they become homeowners. The princes are currently waiting to hear whether they will receive approval for a permanent home to be built by the Fuller Housing Center, a nonprofit organization that helps build and repair homes for people in need at little or no cost to families.
But in the meantime, Princes find joy in the little things. This is a taller artificial tree for Christmas. A separate bedroom for the kids and a new coffee pot. And time together.
In the end, what matters most is normal.
___
Associated Press reporter Joshua A. Bickel contributed to this report.
___
Find more information about AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment.
___
Follow Melina Walling on X: @MelinaWalling.
___
The Associated Press’s climate and environment coverage receives funding from many private organizations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage at AP.org.