Dear friend,

Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Land and Housing Program at New America. 

🔊 On 8/1, Senior Policy Analyst Tim Robustelli is speaking on post-disaster displacement amid climate change as part of this year's California Adaptation Forum in Pomona, California.

Here's what we've been up to:

What We're Doing

Blog Post -- Climate Experts: We Need a Better Managed Retreat

Managed retreat is the purposeful, planned, and voluntary relocation of people and homes away from disaster-vulnerable coasts and floodplains. It’s most often applied through post-disaster buyouts, when a local government offers homeowners the “pre-disaster” value of their home to relocate instead of rebuild. These buyouts help cut costs for future disaster recoveries, move families out of harm’s way, and can help build resilience by converting at risk homes into natural climate barriers such as wetlands and dunes.

The process seems straightforward for governments, in theory. Buy a damaged home following a natural disaster, demolish the house, restore the land, and relocate the homeowners to safer ground. But in practice, buyouts are anything but easy.

In an FLH blog post, Senior Policy Analyst Tim Robustelli details how challenging it is to implement buyouts, sharing insights from researchers, practitioners, and advocates at Columbia Climate School’s Managed Retreat Conference. 

Read the piece here.

FLH Presents at a Symposium on the Civil Legal Aid Crisis in Eviction Cases 

Last month, RAND Institute for Civil Justice and the Berkeley Judicial Institute hosted a symposium on “The Civil Legal Aid Crisis in Eviction Cases: Options and Opportunities.” The symposium brought together scholars, practitioners and advocates to tackle one of the most glaring access to justice inequities: that is, on an average day in housing court, roughly 97% of tenants facing eviction have no legal representation while only 9% of landlords lack this representation. 

FLH Deputy Director of Domestic Housing Sabiha Zainulbhai presented findings on court eviction data, including its limitations and opportunities, on a panel focused on how data can drive policy change, and ultimately lead to less displacement and better housing court outcomes for tenants. 

USAID Land and Women's Economic Security Brief

Improving women’s land rights and equitable access to land and property globally can improve women’s economic security and entrepreneurship. 

As part of our support to USAID's Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) activity, Tim Robustelli developed a short brief that provides a high-level overview of the links between women’s land and resource rights and economic security, job creation, and entrepreneurship, as well as examples of past and current USAID projects that work towards these development goals.

You can access the brief here.

Case Report: Housing, Land and Property Restitution After Wars Takes Decades: Ukraine Can Change This

After a conflict, it can take decades to return housing, land and property (HLP) to residents who were forced from their homes, or whose homes have been damaged or destroyed. Refugees and internally displaced persons often can’t prove they are the rightful occupants of the homes they left behind, because their property records are missing, destroyed, or inaccurate, or because they can’t present the right evidence to show the extent of destruction to their property.

But with its digital sophistication, smartphone penetration, and a capable government willing to innovate, Ukraine might become the first war-affected country in which millions of displaced citizens can return to their HLP quickly, be compensated promptly, and engage in timely reconstruction.

In a case report for World Development Perspectives, FLH Director Yuliya Panfil, McGill professor Jon Unruh and Peace Coalition founder Michael Cholod outline how Ukraine is poised to transform the process of HLP restitution and compensation after wars. 

Read the case report here. 

What We're Reading

FLH staff share what has stood out to them lately on land, housing, and property rights in the U.S. and internationally.

Katie Lund

There’s no such thing as a disaster resilient place anymore: In response to the devastating and unprecedented Vermont floods in July, this article explores the increasingly large risk of climate change and extreme weather in areas previously thought to be “climate resilient”. The Northeast is often considered one of the most natural disaster resilient regions in the United States. However, the recent flooding illustrates the need for all communities to prepare not only for the type of disasters that have occurred in the past, but also for new types of disasters. Increasing preparedness is critical to protecting people, livelihoods, and infrastructure.

Jacob Kepes

What if we had a 15-Minute city for friendship?: When I lived in suburban Atlanta, I dreaded leaving home. Walking, biking, and bussing were not options, especially in the heat. I knew going anywhere, even to the closest coffee shop, would likely take at least 25-30 minutes by car. That’s why this CityLab article stood out to me so much. In the midst of a “loneliness epidemic”, urban planning provides a solution. 15-minute cities aren’t just for convenience of access to the grocery store, work, childcare, and healthcare…they can also increase opportunities for spontaneity, leisure, and you feel more connected to your neighborhood and community. There are more reasons to rethink American sprawl and car-centric urban design beyond economic justifications of building affordable housing and land value. There are social reasons, including friendship, human connection, and collective efficacy that are priceless. It’s time we start treating them as such.

Thoughts on our work or where we're headed? Reach out to us at FLH@NewAmerica.org or tag us at @FLHatNewAmerica.

Until next month, the FLH Team.

About New America

New America is dedicated to renewing the promise of America, bringing us closer to our nation’s highest ideals. We’re a different kind of think tank: one dedicated to public problem solving. Our team of visionary researchers, changemakers, technologists, and storytellers study and seize the opportunities presented by dramatic social and technological change. We search for powerful ideas, wherever they are, and collaborate with civic innovators around the world to develop evidence-based solutions.

The Future of Land and Housing Program at New America aims to help solve today’s land and housing rights challenges, both in the United States and internationally. Through our research and writing, convening, and collaboration with civic innovators worldwide, we strive to connect new constituencies, shed light on underreported issues, and implement creative approaches in the property rights space.

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