As Hurricane Irma Home Repairs Wrap Up and Hurricane Season Approaches, LISC Looks to the Future

With the 2021 hurricane season quickly approaching, LISC Jacksonville and community partners are celebrating the successful near completion of the last of three home repair initiatives established in 2017 in response to Hurricane Irma. Upon completion at the end of June, 101 homes of Jacksonville’s most vulnerable families – who had no ability to repair their homes damaged by the catastrophic wind or flooding from Hurricane Irma – will have been repaired through the Northeast Florida Long Term Recovery Organization (NFLTRO). The NFLTRO, comprised of 30 local partners including LISC Jacksonville, issued its concluding report on April 30.

However, LISC Jacksonville and its partners know all too well that, from a resiliency perspective, there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done for numerous vulnerable communities to be better prepared for the next major storm event.

“The home repair initiative established following Hurricane Irma helped make homes safe, sanitary, and secure, and showed us that the process we created worked well,” said John Sapora, disaster recovery and resiliency manager for LISC Jacksonville. “Not only were we able to get desperate families the help they needed, but the process also utilized contractors based in these same low-income neighborhoods to do the work, serving as an economic development engine as well.”

“At LISC Jacksonville, we see home repair as both a resiliency activity and a driver of economic development,” added Sapora. “By repairing homes in our most vulnerable communities, they are better prepared for future storms, which are inevitable in Florida, and equity in their homes also increases for homeowners. With greater equity, more doors for economic growth and wealth-building are able to open in their future.”    

Local leaders recognized the success of the NFLTRO’s coordinated disaster recovery network early on and saw the need for a more permanent, long-term collaboration. This prompted the creation of the Duval COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) in the summer of 2020. LISC Jacksonville played a key role in establishing this initiative, which has gained support from the NFLTRO and other partners.

“Along the way many lessons were learned and while we have been lauded for our ability to grow the initiative from the ‘ground up,’ with the wherewithal to assist a significant number of residents in such a timely fashion, had such an organization and/or process already been in place our effort could have been far more impactful sooner,” said Michael Boylan, chairman of the NFLTRO.

Roof repair in progress during Hurricane Irma Home Repair Program.

“The Duval COAD will address how we respond to future disasters and keep partners engaged in disaster recovery and response over the long term, which is a positive,” said Sapora. “That said, we at LISC have recognized that there are still a number of families and homes who need help now in order to be prepared. If we can become proactive on this front, then disaster trauma, disruption, and the need for expensive recovery efforts are reduced. Every $1 spent on mitigation saves an average of $6 in response and recovery costs.”

LISC Jacksonville is taking the lead on coordinating community partners to identify funding sources to continue the home repair system established with the NFLTRO. These funds would be used to help low-income families replace windows, shutters, roofs, and other elements that secure a home during a storm event. Efforts would be focused on Jacksonville’s urban core neighborhoods in which LISC Jacksonville already operates, including Historic Eastside, Northwest Jacksonville, and others.

“Other cities, such as Houston and Detroit, have established successful coalitions and secured funding sources to advance this same effort,” added Sapora. “We are currently working with partners such as the Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation to be more proactive, taking lessons learned from our past efforts and those of other cities are who doing this successfully with positive results.”

“As we look to the future, our vision is that every community in Jacksonville, particularly our most historically underinvested, is more resilient and able to withstand a major catastrophe. We have proven it can be done, and we have proven the additional economic benefits that occur when homes and people are more resilient and prepared,” said Sapora.  

For more about LISC Jacksonville’s resiliency work, click here. For more about the Duval COAD, click here.