Housing Vulnerabilities and Disaster Preparedness in Low-Income Populations: Implications for Social Work

Background and Purpose: The global climate is changing rapidly, leading to more frequent and intensive disasters. Disaster preparedness—enabling individuals and communities to anticipate and respond to the impacts of disasters—is especially important for low-income populations who are more likely to live in disaster-prone areas. Despite this higher risk, low-income populations are often less prepared due to various social vulnerability factors, with housing being an important but understudied factor. To inform more equitable disaster management policies and enhance disaster-related social work practice for socially vulnerable populations, this study examined the associations between individual- and community-level housing characteristics and disaster preparedness among low-income adults. Given the increased vulnerability of older adults to disasters, we also tested the moderating role of age.

Methods: Data from three panels (2021-2023) of FEMA’s National Household Survey (NHS) were pooled and merged with CDC’s community-level Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) using zip codes. NHS surveys provided data on individual-level housing factors (e.g., home type, ownership, cost) and disaster preparedness. The SVI provided five community-level housing characteristics (e.g., percentages of mobile homes and persons with housing cost burden). The analytic sample included 8,837 low-income adults nested within 5,407 zip codes. Weighted multilevel models examined associations between housing characteristics (housing type, ownership, crowding, and cost, all assessed at both the individual and community level) and three types of disaster preparedness (perceived, actual, and financial preparedness), adjusted for individual demographics.

Results: In our low-income sample, perceived disaster preparedness increased from 2021 to 2023, while actual preparedness declined. Both individual- and community-level housing characteristics were associated with individual disaster preparedness. Specifically, renters reported lower perceived and financial preparedness relative to homeowners. Compared to individuals in single-unit homes, those in multi-unit apartments reported lower financial preparedness. Those residing in communities with higher proportions of multi-unit housing or crowding also reported lower disaster preparedness. On the other hand, higher housing cost burden and living in communities with more mobile homes were associated with higher preparedness. Older adults generally exhibited better preparedness than younger adults, but analyses assessing age moderation revealed that older adults’ advantages diminished when experiencing housing cost burden, residing in multi-unit apartments, or living in crowded communities.

Conclusions and Implications: Our findings highlight the important role of housing characteristics in shaping disaster preparedness and provide important implications for policy makers and practitioners to enhance disaster preparedness, particularly in multiply disadvantaged populations. Social workers are uniquely qualified to collaborate with community organizations and residents to create locally-tailored and age-responsive strategies that address housing-related vulnerabilities in disaster preparedness efforts. These findings identified factors that place vulnerable populations at higher risk as well as population-specific strengths—such as heightened actual preparedness among mobile home communities—that may buffer risk. Community-based strategies can draw on these findings to connect residents with essential resources, disseminate preparedness information through community events, and strengthen emergency support networks in local communities facing housing vulnerabilities. Moreover, targeted interventions can leverage community strengths and empower residents to build community resilience and reduce disaster risk among low-income individuals and communities.