Stratifying Disaster: State Aid, Institutional Processes, and Inequality in American Communities.

This article examines how disaster aid programs, specifically the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Individuals and Households Program (IHP), produce racial and socioeconomic inequalities in post-disaster recovery through a multi-stage bureaucratic process involving application, inspection, damage assessment, and aid receipt. Analyzing over 5.3 million FEMA IHP applications from 2005 to 2016, the study finds that homeowners in predominantly White and higher-income communities disproportionately receive permanent repair and replacement aid, while temporary rental assistance is more often granted to households in communities of color. The research highlights institutional features—such as eligibility criteria, burdens of proof, and contracted private inspectors—that contribute to disparities, including racialized denial reasons and lower aid amounts for low-income households in marginalized communities. Additionally, permanent repair aid correlates with socioeconomic improvements at the county level post-disaster, whereas rental assistance does not, underscoring the stratified nature of disaster recovery facilitated by state policies and practices.