A Model of Build Back Better Utilization: Long-Term Recovery Groups and Post-Disaster Housing Recovery

Abstract

Housing recovery, especially for vulnerable populations, can be a challenging process. Questions regarding whether to rebuild damaged housing and whether to restore it to its previous state or to build back better must be answered. In the United States, Long-Term Recovery Groups (LTRGs) play a crucial role in channeling assistance to vulnerable community members as they embark on housing recovery. However, the experiences of LTRGs have been understudied. To address this gap, the study utilizes interviews with a diverse range of LTRG members and develops an agent-based model following the Overview, Design concepts, and Details (ODD) protocol. The results highlight the consequences of adopting or not adopting a Build Back Better (BBB) approach in post-disaster recovery. Communities do not uniformly adhere to the same reconstruction approach, as evidenced by insights from LTRG interviews. BBB implementation is uneven in US LTRGs. BBB has higher initial costs but lower long-term costs because it increases community resilience and sustainability.