From Hazard Mitigation to Climate Adaptation: A Review of Home Buyout Program Literature

ABSTRACT

With the onset of climate change resulting in more frequent hazard events and coastal inundation, communities are considering buyouts as a tool for climate adaptation. Despite a growing body of research, there has never been a systematic review of the literature on buyout programs, although our ability to implement buyouts successfully relies on a thorough understanding of buyout policy, design, implementation, and impacts. In this systematic literature review of voluntary buyouts in the United States, we distill key learnings, identify remaining gaps, present avenues for future research, and make policy recommendations. We find that the buyout literature is nascent, but coalesces around the topics of buyout experience, buyout practice and implementation, housing policy, flood reduction, and justice and equity. Recommendations for future research include an increased emphasis on theory, the contexts in which buyouts occur, longitudinal studies, and more explicit recognition of researcher and disciplinary bias.

KEYWORDS:

• buyouts
• organized retreat
• climate adaptation
• disaster
• literature review
• HMGP

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alex Greer

Alex Greer is an associate professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany. His research interests include hazard adjustments and relocation decision-making processes.

Sherri Brokopp Binder

Sherri Brokopp Binder is the President of BrokoppBinder Research & Consulting in Allentown, PA. Her work spans the academic, non-profit, and public sectors, with an emphasis on the experience and impacts of postdisaster relocation.

Elyse Zavar

Elyse Zavar is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Management & Disaster Science at the University of North Texas. Her research focuses on hazard mitigation, long-term community recovery, and disaster commemoration practices.