Low-income households in Appalachia are directly facing the burden of climate change.

The cost to low-income communities during disaster recovery efforts are straining household budgets. In Appalachia, the annual median household income is $48,964, more than $20,000 less than the national median of $70,622. The average poverty rate is 16.3 percent, compared to a national average of 14.6 percent. While homeownership rates in Appalachian states are relatively high compared to the national average, rural Appalachian individuals are more likely to have poor credit scores, face increased cost of credit, have higher rates of denial for mortgage applications, and have higher debt burden than the national average.

Inability to recover after a natural disaster may lead to displacement, further exacerbating issues of population decline in Appalachian communities. Federal resources for supporting families after disasters do exist but are often insufficient, inaccessible, or slow to be deployed.

“When your life turns upside down, usually the rest of the world is still there. This time, the whole world turned upside down."

- Barbara Kingsolver, Appalachian Author

Flood-related disasters in Appalachia exacerbate many existing challenges in the region, including poverty rates, out-migration, and lack of affordable, quality housing.

Flooding events can directly lead to a rise in poverty rates for local communities.

In Greenbrier County, WV, the poverty level was 18.4 percent in 2016, the year that a federally-declared flood disaster struck the region. In 2017, a year after the flood, the poverty level was 19.6 percent. Disruption of public services, shuttered businesses, supply chain interruptions, loss of homes, and damaged infrastructure all contribute to this.

Source: The Appalachian Region: A Data Overview from the 2019-2023 American Community Survey Chartbook.

Flooding in Appalachia may also exacerbate population decline in the region. If a county experiences two consecutive natural disasters, out-migration increases by 1 percent. Higher-income residents have greater financial abilities to leave flood-prone areas and seek employment elsewhere than lower-income residents, meaning that low-income households tend to remain in flood-prone areas of the region.

Private Property Repair Challenges

It is difficult for low-income homeowners to prepare themselves for a disaster because of the unaffordability of flood insurance. The average annual cost of NFIP for households in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia ranges from $1,077 to $3,074, with Kentucky (9th), Pennsylvania (15th), and West Virginia (2nd) all ranking in the top 15 most expensive states and territories for flood insurance rates with average annual costs higher than the average annual cost of insurance.

Following a disaster, FEMA Individual Assistance (IA) programs are not designed to repair all damages but only to make a home habitable and provide temporary and limited other forms of assistance (e.g., temporary housing, cash assistance). If a home is completely destroyed, for example, a family can only receive $43,600 from from FEMA Individual Assistance (as of October 2024).

Other options for these families include property buyouts, but certain federal buyout programs are plagued with problems. For example, a 2019 study from the Natural Resources Defense Council found that the median time frame for the completion of a FEMA buy-out was over five years.

Our Recommendations

Significant reforms are needed to support low-income households. First, developing an affordability framework to improve flood insurance for households while also increasing awareness and participation of the Community Rating System (CRS) program would lower costs for low- and fixed-income residents. Second, increased funding and support for Disaster Case Managers (DCM) and the Individuals & Households Program (IHP) would support impacted households for longer as recovery can be a lengthy process. Lastly, including and expanding funding for private bridge repair is critical for maintaining access between rural households and local roads, something which is practically nonexistent currently.