PowerPoint Presentation

Alan D. JensenGIS and Planning SpecialistISU Extension Community and Economic Development

On June 8, 2008, waterways in the Cedar and Iowa River watersheds began to flood.

and flood.

and flood.

Eight communities of different sizesfour metropolitan areas, one micropolitan community and three rural towns

to determine the effectiveness of state and federal assistance programs on the ability of communities to replace the housing that was lost in this natural disaster.

.

Intent of study: create a housing needs assessment model with which communities can evaluate their long-term demand for affordable, decent and safe housing for all ranges of income, family size, and special needs within their populations

The cities:

The Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED), in partnership with the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) and the Rebuild Iowa Office (RIO),

engaged the services of

Iowa State University and Iowa State University Extension and OutreachCommunity and Economic Development

to undertake a study of eight communities heavily impacted by the Iowa floods of 2008.

IDED, IFA and RIO selected the cities Flood recovery would be a complicated endeavor:

$4.37 billion in federal and state assistance was allocated for eastern Iowa flood recovery through December 2010. This funding came from 27 different programs sponsored by 14 government agencies, nine of which are federal and five of which are state agencies.

MethodologyEconomic Benchmarks and Impact Analysis Focus GroupsOnline SurveyKey Informant InterviewsArchival Documentary Review of Pre-Existing Planning MaterialsGeospatial Analysis of Housing Data

A few of the challenges to overcome for the GIS study portion::Identify consistent and accurate data sources that include benchmark data prior to the disaster.The same source should provide data for a period or periods of time following disaster. The data need to have spatial dimension so that actual impacts of the disaster can be targeted and not be reliant on place aggregate data. Housing units impacted with that zone need to be identified.Identify subsequent housing unit development within the impacted area, as well as the broader community, to determine how the area has compensated for lost housing units.

Potential Data Sources Examined but Not Utilized:investor-owned electric utilitiespublic water utilities

Why not?Investor owned utilitiesproprietary informationPublic utilitiesnot generally found within a workable format for GIS Obtaining longitudinal data on hookups by address also proved problematic dataLimited means of some city utilities data management systems to export data

Data Sources Examined and Utilized:County Assessors OfficeCounty GIS CoordinatorsIowa Department of Natural Resources GIS Librarywww.igsb.uiowa.edu/nrgislibx/ (esp. Flood Extent from SPOT Satellite Data) Iowa Department of Transportation www.iowadot.gov/gisIowa State University GIS Support and Research Facilitythe ortho server: http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/

Geospatial Analysis of Housing Data

X=(UL-P)+DWhereas:X = Net housing need in communityUL = Units lost due to natural disasterP = New housing units constructedD = Housing demand from local economic performance

Cedar rapids

Flood impact or recession?

Employment and school enrollments: recession or flood?Cedar rapids

Charles city

Columbus junction

coralville

Iowa city

Mason city

waterloo

Waverly

Final Observations from the GIS Portion of the Study:Privately- and publicly-owned utilities are not practical sources for GIS housing data.While assessors offices are excellent sources of GIS data, limitations exist when conducting long-term planning and analysis.The housing market gap should be evaluated by units lost and by the difference in the value of replacement housing.The impact of natural disasters on housing tend to be more significant in low-growth or declining economies.

General findings of the study:The local economic growth of Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids, created a housing demand beyond the units lost from the flood.Economic conditions in Charles City and Columbus Junction added no real growth in housing demand; the overall housing impacts derived from either the flood or the local economies remain negligible.

Waterloo and Mason City actually realized more new housing units in the past two years than would have been predicted by flood losses and the economic growth a slight excess of housing is indicated.

Replacement housing is often not the equivalent of the housing lost through flooding. More affordable housing lost in the flood is being replaced with significantly more expensive housing.