Article: Assessing the Conceptual and Empirical Evidence for Inclusion of an Heirs’ Property Variable in the Social Vulnerability Index
Christopher Emrich (University of Central Florida), Herbert Longenecker (University of Central Florida), G. Rebecca Dobbs (Government of the United States of America – Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and Cassie Gaither (affiliation not provided to SSRN) recently published, Assessing the Conceptual and Empirical Evidence for Inclusion of an Heirs’ Property Variable in the Social Vulnerability Index, 2024. Provided below is an Abstract:
Heirs’ property owners – those without clear title to home and property – face many barriers to recovery from disasters and are more vulnerable to adverse disaster outcomes. Following major disasters, property owners must prove ownership/residency to receive disaster recovery assistance from federal programs and often must present clear title to access rebuilding loans/grants. Leading social vulnerability measures include socio-economic indicators (age, race, income levels, etc.) for estimating population sensitivity to adverse impacts/outcomes, but do not currently include measures of heirs’ properties. This study employs both theoretical and empirical assessments aimed at identifying the utility of including an heirs’ property measure into the social vulnerability index (SoVI) through a 13 southern US state census tract level case study. Findings reveal that including heirs’ property in SoVI is both conceptually justified and supported by empirical evidence. Beyond increasing our understanding of social vulnerability, this analysis identifies a new approach to future variable additions.