by Brianna Crandall — August 26, 2013—President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, chaired by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, released a Rebuilding Strategy on August 19 to continue helping businesses and residences in the Sandy-affected region rebuild, and to serve as a model for communities across the nation facing greater risks posed by sea level rise and extreme weather made worse by a changing climate.
The Rebuilding Strategy contains 69 policy recommendations, many of which have already been adopted, that will help homeowners stay in and repair their homes, strengthen small businesses and revitalize local economies, and ensure entire communities are better able to withstand and recover from future storms.
Among the recommendations that will have the greatest impact on federal funding is a process to prioritize all large-scale infrastructure projects and map the connections and interdependencies between them, as well as guidelines to ensure all of those projects are built to withstand the impacts of climate change, according to an announcement from HUD. The Rebuilding Strategy also explores how to harden energy infrastructure to minimize power outages and fuel shortages—and ensure continuation of cellular service—in the event of future storms.
The goal of these and other recommendations in the strategy is to:
- Align federal funding with local rebuilding visions;
- Cut red tape and get assistance to families, businesses, and communities efficiently and effectively, with maximum accountability;
- Coordinate the efforts of the federal, state, and local governments, with a region-wide approach to rebuilding; and
- Ensure the region is rebuilt in a way that makes it more resilient—that is, better able to withstand future storms and other risks posed by a changing climate.
In addition to the recommendations that are directly linked to Sandy supplemental funding, the Rebuilding Strategy also includes additional policy recommendations that will have a significant impact on how the region rebuilds. Finally, in recognition of the increased risk the region and the nation face from extreme weather events, the Rebuilding Strategy includes recommendations that, if implemented, will improve our ability to withstand and recover effectively from future flood-related disasters across the country.
The task force has also taken steps to ensure the implementation of these recommendations. Several of the policies and principles developed by the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force were also incorporated into President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which laid out a series of responsible and common sense steps to prepare communities for the impacts of a changing climate, including the need for the federal government to make investments based on the most up-to-date information about future risks.
