This study examines residents’ housing decisions in a multihazard environment (flood, hurricane, and toxic chemicals). The combination of a hedonic price model and a household survey conducted in Harris County, Texas, indicates that flood hazard was an important factor in households’ housing decisions, but not hurricane and toxic materials hazards. The results have further suggested that home buyers were poorly informed about hurricane and toxic materials hazards when housing decisions were made and came to understand their vulnerability only while living in hazard-prone neighborhoods. Moreover, it appears that low-income households and minorities were the least-informed group in the housing market. These findings provide implications for using hazard information programs to promote community resilience to natural hazards and community environmental justice.
Adamowicz, W., J. Louviere, and M. Williams.1994. Combining revealed and stated preference methods for valuing environmental amenities. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management26 (3): 271-92.
2.
Adeola, F.2000. Endangered community, enduring people: Toxic contamination, health and adaptive responses in a local context. Environment and Behavior32:209-49.
3.
Ajzen, I.1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes50:179-211.
4.
Berke, P.1998. State growth management and natural hazard risk reduction . Journal of the American Planning Association64 (1): 76-87.
5.
Bevc, C.A., B.K. Marshall, and J.S. Picou.2007. Environmental justice and toxic exposure: Toward a spatial model of physical health and psychological well-being. Social Science Research36:48-68.
6.
Bin, O., and J.B. Kruse.2006. Real estate market response to coastal flood hazards. Natural Hazards Review7 (4): 137-45.
7.
Brody, S.D., D.R. Godschalk, and R.J. Burby.2003. Mandating citizen participation in plan making: Six strategic planning choices. Journal of the American Planning Association69 (3): 245-64.
8.
Bullard, R.D.1990. Dumping in Dixie: Race, class and environmental quality . Boulder, CO: Westview .
9.
Burby, R.J.1998. Cooperating with nature: Confronting natural hazards with land use planning for sustainable communities. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press.
10.
Burby, R.J.2006. Hurricane Katrina and the paradoxes of government disaster policy: Bringing about wise government decisions for hazardous areas . Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences64:171-91.
11.
Burby, R.J., S.A. Bollens, J. Holway, E.J. Kaiser, D. Mullan, and J.R. Sheaffer.1988. Cities under water. Programs on Environment, Technology, & Man, Monograph#47. Boulder: Institute of Behavioral Science, Univesity of Colorado.
12.
Burby, R.J., R.E. Deyle, D.R. Godschalk, and R.B. Olshansky.2000. Creating hazard resilient community through land-use planning. Natural Hazards Review1 (2): 99-106.
13.
Burby, R.J., L.J. Steinberg, and V. Basolo.2003. The tenure trap: The vulnerability of renters to joint natural and technological disasters. Urban Affairs Review39 (1): 32-58.
14.
Cable, S., and C. Cable.1995. Environmental problems, grassroots solutions: The politics of grassroots environmental conflict. New York, NY: St. Martin’s.
15.
Chivers, J., and N.E. Flores.2002. Market failure in information: The National Flood Insurance Program. Land Economics78:515-21.
16.
Cutter, S.L.2003. American hazardscapes. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press.
17.
Dawkins, C.2004. Recent evidence on the continuing causes of black-white residential segregation. Journal of Urban Affairs26:379-400.
18.
Deyle, R.E., and R.A. Smith.1998. Local government compliance with state planning mandates: The effects of state implementation in Florida. Journal of the American Planning Association64 (4): 457-69.
19.
Dillman, D.A.1999. Mail and internet survey: The tailored design method . New York: John Wiley.
20.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).2008 . Toxic Release Inventory national analysis brochure2008. http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri08/national_analysis/brochure/brochure.htm (accessed March 10, 2010).
21.
Eves, C.2002. The long term impacts of flooding on residential property values. Property Management20 (4): 214-28.
22.
Ewing, B.T., J.B. Kruse, and Y. Wang.2007. Local housing price index analysis in wind disaster prone area. Natural Hazards40: 463-84.
23.
Fishbein, M., and I. Ajsen.1975. Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior . Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley .
24.
Fothergill, A., E.G. Maestas, and J.D. Darlington .1999. Race, ethnicity, and disasters in the United States: A review of the literature. Disasters23:156-73.
25.
Fothergill, A., and L.A. Peek.2004. Poverty and disasters in the United States: A review of recent sociological findings. Natural Hazards32:89-110.
26.
Freeman, A.M.1979. Hedonic prices, property values and measuring environmental benefits: A survey of issues. Scandinavian Journal of Economics81 (2): 154-74.
27.
Freeman, L.2000. Minority housing segregation: A test of three pespectives . Journal of Urban Affairs22:15-35.
28.
Fujita, M.1989. Urban economic theory: Land use and city size. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press .
Galster, G., and E. Godfrey.2005. By words and deeds: Racial steering by real estate agents in the U.S. in 2000. Journal of the American Planning Association71 (3): 251-68.
31.
Gawande, K., and H. Jenkins-Smith .2001. Nuclear waste transport and residential property values: Estimating the effects of perceived risks . Journal of Environmental Economics and Management42 (2): 207-27.
32.
Godschalk, D.R., T. Beatly, P. Berke, D.J. Brower, and E.J. Kaiser.1999. Natural hazard mitigation: Recasting disaster policy and planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.
33.
Harris County Appraisal District.2009. Guide to the property tax process. http://www.hcad.org/ (accessed December 11, 2009).
34.
Harrison, D.M., G.T. Smersh, and A.L. Schwartz.2001. Environmental determinants of housing prices: The impacts of flood zone status. Journal of Real Estate Research21 (1): 3-21.
35.
Lee, S., P.D. Taylor, and S. Hong.2008. Moderating effect of forest cover on the effect of proximity to chemical facilities on property values. Landscape and Urban Planning86: 171-77.
36.
Lefcoe, G.2004. Property condition disclosure forms: How the real estate industry eased the transaction from caveat emptor to "seller tell all ." Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal39 (1): 193-251.
37.
Lindell, M.K.2008. Cross-sectional research. Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology, ed. N. Salkind, 206-13. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
38.
Lindell, M.K., and S.N. Hwang.2008. Households’ perceived personal risk and responses in a multihazard environment. Risk Analysis28 (2): 539-57.
39.
Lindell, M.K., and R.W. Perry.2004. Communicating environmental risk in multiethnic communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
40.
Lindell, M.K., and C.S. Prater.2000. Household adoption of seismic hazard adjustments: A comparison of residents in two states. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters18:317-39.
41.
Lindell, M.K., and C.S. Prater.2002. Risk area residents’ perceptions and adoption of seismic hazard adjustments. Journal of Applied Social Psychology32:2377-92.
42.
Lindell, M.K., J.C. Lu, and C.S. Prater.2005. Household evacuation decision making response to Hurricane Lili. Natural Hazards Review6:171-79.
43.
Massey, D., and N. Denton.1993. American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
44.
Mileti, D.S., and J.D. Fitzpatrick .1992. The causal sequence of risk communication in the Parkfield earthquake prediction experiment. Risk Analysis12:8.
45.
Mitchell, R.C., and R.T. Carson.1989. Using survey to value public goods: The contingent valuation method. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
46.
Mohai, P., and R. Saha.2006. Reassessing racial and socioeconomic disparities in environmental justice research. Demography43 (2): 383-99.
47.
Mulilis, J.P., and T.S. Duval.1997. The PrE model of coping with threat and tornado preparedness behavior: The moderating effects of felt responsibility . Journal of Applied Social Psychology27:1750-66.
48.
Nelson, A.C., and S.P. French.2002. Plan quality and mitigating damage from natural disasters: A case study of the Northridge earthquake with planning policy considerations. Journal of the American Planning Association68 (2): 194-207.
49.
Ondrich, J., S.L. Ross, and J. Yinger.2001. Geography of housing discrimination . Journal of Housing Research12:217-38.
50.
Page, W.G., and H. Robinowitz.1993. Groundwater contamination: Its effects on property values and cities. Journal of the American Planning Association59 (4): 473-82.
51.
Palm, R.I.1981. Public response to earthquake hazard information . Annals of the Association of American Geographers71 (3): 389-400.
52.
Paster, M., J. Sadd, and J. Hipp.2001. Which came first? Toxic facilities, minority move-in, and environmental justice. Journal of Urban Affairs. 23 (1): 1-21.
53.
Peacock, W.G.2003. Hurricane mitigation status and factors influencing mitigation status among Florida’s single-family homeowners. Natural Hazards Review4 (4): 149-58.
54.
Pope, J.C.2008. Do seller disclosure affect property values? Buyer information and the hedonic model. Land Economics84 (4): 551-72.
55.
Prater, C.S., and M.K. Lindell.2000. Politics of hazard mitigation. Natural Hazards Review1 (2): 73-82.
56.
Roberts, F.Y.2001. Disclosure duties in real estate sales and attempts to reallocate the risk. Connecticut Law Review34 (1): 1-55.
57.
Roberts, J.T., and M. Toffolon-Weiss .2001. Chronicles from the environmental justice frontline. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
58.
Rogers, R.W.1983. Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change. A revised theory of protection motivation. In Social psychophysiology: A source book, ed. J. T. Capcioppo and R. E. Petty, 153-76. New York, NY: Guilford.
59.
Shrout, P.E., and N. Bolger.2002. Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods7:422-45.
60.
Shultz, S.D., and P.M. Fridgen.2001. Floodplains and property values: Implications for flood mitigation projects. Journal of the American Water Resources Association37:595-603.
61.
Simmons, K.M., J.B. Kruse, and D.A. Smith.2002. Valuing mitigation: Real estate market response to hurricane loss reduction measures. Southern Economic Journal68 (3): 660-72.
62.
Slovic, P., H. Kunreuther, and G.F. White.1974. Decision processes, rationality and adjustment to natural hazards. In Natural hazards: Local, national and global, ed. G. F. White.New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
63.
Smith, V.K., and W.H. Desvousgous .1986. The value of avoiding a LULU: Hazardous waste disposal sites. Review of Economics and Statistics68:293-99.
64.
Smith, V.K., and R.B. Palmquist.1994. Temporal substitution and the recreational value of coastal amenities. Review of Economics and Statistics76 (1): 119-27.
65.
Speyer, J.F., and W.R. Ragas.1991. Housing prices and flood risk: An examination using spline regression. Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics4:395-407.
66.
Thayer, M., H. Albers, and M. Rahmatian.1992. The benifits of reducing exposure to waste disposal sites: A hedonic housing value approach. Journal of Real Estate Research7:265-82.
67.
Troy, A., and J. Romm.2004. Assessing the price effects of flood hazard disclosure under the California Natural Hazard Disclosure Law (AB1195) . Journal of Environmental Planning and Management47 (1): 137-63.
68.
Vroom, V.H.1964. Work and motivation. New York, NY: Wiley.
69.
Wolf, S.M.1996. Fear and loathing about the public right to know: The surprising success of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act . Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law11 (2): 217-324.
70.
Wooldridge, J.M.2008. Introductory econometrics: A modern approach. Mason, OH: South Western Publishing.
71.
Yinger, J.1998. Housing discrimination is still worth worrying about. Housing Policy Debate9:893-927.
72.
Zhang, Y., S.N. Hwang, and M.K. Lindell. Forthcoming. Hazard proximity or risk perception? Evaluating effects of natural and technological hazards on housing values. Environment & Behavior.
73.
Zhang, Y., C.S. Prater, and M.K. Lindell.2004. Risk area accuracy and hurricane evacuation from Hurricane Bret. Natural Hazards Review5 (3): 115-21.
