Abstract
Buyouts mitigate the impacts of flood hazards and climate change. Previous research finds buyouts are concentrated in socially vulnerable areas nationally, and in the Houston area, buyouts have contributed to white flight to the suburbs. The effect of buyouts on equity in urban development is understudied. Existing literature overlooks the fact that buyouts are used strategically and may only nominally be a response to risk. This paper examines buyout inequity in the Houston area by mapping the geographical distribution of buyouts against demographic data and by developing a buyout displacement index to reveal the impact of buyouts in high-risk watersheds.
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