PD&R Disaster Recovery Tool Kit

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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) offers the following list of relevant resources, reports, guides, and ordinances to aid in the disaster recovery process. Many of the reports in this kit are available in print by calling the HUD USER Clearinghouse at 1-800-245-2691, option 1. As always, all reports are available as free downloads from HUD USER.

Flood Recovery
Wind Recovery
Earthquake Recovery
Disaster Recovery Videos
Additional Resources

Flood Recovery

The following publications are for areas that have been affected by flood damage or are flood prone. The reports cover all aspects of flood mitigation and prevention as well as technical research on rehabilitation after flood events.

Resources

Barriers to Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing: Volume 1 - Findings and Analysis, Volume 2 - Case Studies (2001)
These two publications examine some of the more significant barriers to urban rehabilitation. The authors present a series of case studies that address problems with acquiring properties, estimating costs, obtaining insurance and financing, and working with land-use and building code regulations.

Building Moisture and Durability (2004)
This project develops recommendations for future research on moisture problems in housing and follows a review and analysis of the literature concerning problems created by bulk water and excessive water vapor in housing.

Creating a Healthy Home: A Field Guide for Clean-up of Flooded Homes (2008)
This guide is meant for do-it-yourselfers and contractors who need to clean up mold in flooded homes before starting to rebuild or renovate. This booklet tells how to clean up after flooding, but does not describe how to rebuild.

Durability by Design 2nd Edition: A Professional’s Guide to Durable Home Design (2015)
This manual is an update of the 2002 Durability by Design publication. Through this updated guide, HUD offers new and refined guidance for designing durable homes for today’s housing industry—addressing critical topics, including water vapor management, envelope design, and natural hazards.

Eliminating Barriers to the Use of HUD-Code Housing in Attached Construction (2003)
Provides guidance to home manufacturers, builder/developers, and traditional site builders interested in reducing building costs while integrating manufactured housing into single-family attached construction.

Home Builders' Guide to Manufactured Housing (2000)
This guide presents information for site builders and land developers on how to incorporate HUD-Code manufactured housing into their business operations.

Housing Recovery in the Gulf Coast Phase 1: Results of Windshield Observations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas (2010)
This report presents the findings of a windshield survey of a sample of 3,511 residential properties located on blocks severely affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Overall, there were 312,463 such properties. As of when these data were gathered early in 2010, the report estimates that 74.6 percent of these properties were in good condition, 14.6 percent of the properties still had substantial repair needs, and 10.9 percent of the properties no longer contained a permanent residential structure. The report also explores factors related to rebuilding.

Housing Recovery on the Gulf Coast, Phase II: Results of Property Owner Survey in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (2011)
This report is the second of two prepared for a study of the uses of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster assistance funds for housing recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The report presents the findings of a survey of 722 owners of owner-occupied and small rental residential properties that suffered major or severe damage from the 2005 hurricanes and were located on blocks significantly affected by the hurricanes.

HUD Rehab Guide: Volumes One through Nine (1997-2000)
This series provides the design and construction industry with information on building technologies, materials, components, and techniques specific to the rehabilitation process. Each volume covers a distinct element of housing rehab – foundations; exterior walls; roofs; windows and doors; partitions, ceiling, floors, and stairs; kitchens and baths; electrical/electronics; HVAC/plumbing; and site work.

Moisture-Resistant Homes (2006)
This report advances the goal of designing, building, and maintaining houses in order to effectively manage moisture penetration. It addresses many common moisture-related problems that are well known to builders, homeowners, and insurers.

Pre-Disaster Planning for Permanent Housing Recovery (2012)
This content is presented in four volumes, providing an overview of permanent housing options, a summary of the national disaster housing strategy, the Housing Capacity Calculator, and the basic plant design requirements for manufactured, modular, and panelized housing.

Rehabbing Flooded Houses: A Guide for Builders and Contractors (2008)
Rehabbing Flooded Houses is a guidebook for professional builders and contractors rehabbing flooded single-family houses. Homes flood for a variety of reasons (overflowing rivers, high coastal waves, hurricanes, etc.) but the methods for determining how badly the building has been damaged and how to repair it are relatively similar no matter where you are working.

Smart Codes in Your Community: A Guide to Building Rehabilitation Codes (2001)
Provides a broad overview of the general regulatory environment governing the use and reuse of existing buildings. It also provides examples of state and local efforts to reduce regulatory complexity.

Wind Recovery

The following publications encompass a wide variety of research on wind related disasters, including hurricanes and tornadoes. The research includes information on wind damage prevention, building materials, and rebuilding after wind related disasters.

Resources

Assessment of Damage to Single-Family Homes Caused by Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki (1993)
This document identifies measures that designers, builders, local officials, homeowners, and others can take to improve the wind-resistant qualities of the single-family housing stock. The study also found that water damage was the most common and costly factor in the hurricane-damaged homes, and it identifies the three critical components that failed most frequently: windows and doors, roof coverings, attachment of roof sheathing.

Assessing Housing Durability: A Pilot Study (2001)
This report presents the findings of facts from this pilot study and provides useful criticisms of the study methodology. The study reports several interesting statistics, cause-and-effect relationships, and observations on housing durability. The report also discusses lessons learned from the study with a view toward improved techniques should this effort be expanded to a regional or national level.

Wind-Borne Debris: Impact Resistance of Residential Glazing (2002)
The objective of this research was to provide needed data on the fragility (i.e., impact magnitude vs. glass breakage probability) of typical residential glass using field-observed and standardized missile types representing wind-borne debris. In this experimental study, representative sources of debris hazards, such as pieces of roof shingles and nominal 2 in. by 4 in. dimension lumber were used to impact "standard" (i.e., non-impact resistant) glass, namely annealed glass.

Earthquake Recovery

The following publications offer research and techniques for mitigating and preventing earthquake damage. The research includes information on design strategies, building codes, and disaster response.

Resources

Cityscape Volume 10, Number 3, 2008 (Design and Disaster: Higher Education Responds to Hurricane Katrina) (2008)
This edition of Cityscape highlights the role of architecture, engineering, and planning schools in providing expertise and community collaboration in rebuilding efforts on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. The research shows that university partnerships are important for fostering effective community development strategies for disaster recovery.

Cost and Benefits of Insulating Concrete Forms for Residential Construction (2001)
This guide analyzes the costs of implementing insulated concrete forms in wall construction of typical wood-frame homes. The guide also analyzes the long-term benefits of this type of construction which include increased durability, efficiency, and structural safety.

New Madrid Seismic Zone: Overview of Earthquake Hazard and Magnitude Assessment Based on Fragility of Historic Structures (2003)
This report examines structures within the New Madrid Seismic Zone for their resiliency to earthquake damage. The report provides an assessment of buildings that survived the 1811-1812 earthquakes to determine seismic vulnerability in structures and to offer recommendations for future building design and engineering.

Disaster Recovery Videos

The following videos provide instructions for homeowners addressing damage to their homes caused by natural disasters. The instructional videos offer advice on identifying hazards and ensuring family safety during home restoration.

Returning To Your Flood Damage Home

This video will discuss how to return to your home for the first time after a natural disaster. This phase normally follows the immediate aftermath and clearances from authorities. The video goes through a checklist of things to do and look for to ensure the safety of you and your family. The video will highlight things like: what to do if you smell gas, protecting yourself from electrical injuries, wearing waterproof boots to avoid floodwater touching your skin, preventing carbon monoxide poisoning by keeping fuel burning devices outdoors and away from windows, only eat and drink food and water that you know is safe, etc.

Addressing mold after a natural disaster

Mold is one of the most widespread, health-related hazards found in a home after natural disaster, particularly after flooding. This video builds on the first video and specifically talks about what a homeowner can do to address mold in their home. It will discuss the steps to take to prevent mold growth such as: clean and dry wet items as soon as possible, keep wet areas well-ventilated, discard wet materials that can’t be repaired, if you see or smell mold, clean it with a solution of 1 cup household liquid bleach per 1 gallon of water, etc. It will also discuss when to contact a professional and what to look for to ensure you hire the right company.

Restoring your home after a natural disaster

What you need to know to rebuild. This video covers potential hazards that could arise after a disaster such as lead, mold, asbestos, CO2, and other hazards and how to address them as you rebuild. It will discuss tips to hire contractors that are licensed and capable of addressing the scope of the work and will highlight things to keep in mind during construction. This video recaps and adds to the first two videos.

Additional Resources

Housing and Urban Development Climate Change Adaption Plan (2014)

This Climate Change Adaption Plan highlights how and what HUD programs could be impacted by climate-related changes, such as sea level rise and extreme weather events. The plan also presents a set of actions designed to address some of the risks posed by these changes.

Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes Disaster Recovery Toolkit (2015)

In this toolkit, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes offers best practices for making homes healthy during disaster response and recovery. Using the toolkit, homeowners, tenants, and organizations can learn about evidence-based strategies for preventing hazards in the home before a disaster and safely responding and rebuilding the home after a disaster.

Post Disaster Housing Repair and Restoration

This webpage outlines some of the hazards associated with home repair and restoration after a disaster, such as mold, lead paint, and asbestos. The site also provides links to more detailed information and resources to help guide the disaster recovery process.