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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Watershed Planning within a Quantitative Scenario Analysis Framework
Published on: July 24, 2016
Racial and Ethnic Change in Floodplain Buyout Neighborhoods: Twenty-Five Years of Evidence from Houston
Kijin Seong1, Shannon Van Zandt2, Walter Gillis Peacock2
1Urban Information Lab, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Abstract:
This paper examines how floodplain buyouts funded through FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) have altered the racial and ethnic composition in Harris County, Texas, from 1990 to 2015. A quasi-experimental research design permits the attribution of observed changes to the buyout program, and interviews with households provide context to our findings. We find that buyouts have triggered white flight, shifting neighborhoods from predominantly white to Hispanic, while little changes in the black population. The impact was more pronounced in wealthier neighborhoods and those with more buyouts, suggesting a need for buyouts to include provisions to help stabilize remaining neighborhoods.
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