Displacement after Wildfire: Navigating the Landscape of Disaster Recovery Gentrification

Abstract

Research increasingly shows that perceived climate risks can drive gentrification. Beyond perceived risks, our study focuses on how wildfire disaster recovery efforts, more specifically, can lead to what we call disaster recovery gentrification. By looking at the recovery process of the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, we investigate how wildfire recovery affects the housing landscape and community composition of the affected area, with an emphasis on housing instability. We believe that rebuilding after wildfires often worsens socio-spatial inequalities due to both shifting housing preferences and a lack of focus on vulnerability and justice in the rebuilding process. We ask who is rebuilding and who is moving into areas where homes were destroyed, who can't return, and what types of homes are being rebuilt. We further assess how the post-disaster housing landscape has changed people’s sense of belonging and community. Finally, we discuss obstacles in the rebuilding process that contribute to displacement, and conclude that recovery efforts must go beyond fairness: without addressing pre-existing housing disparities, marginalized residents face ongoing dual vulnerabilities of climater disaster risk and displacement from recovery actions.