Though most builders and realtors have never had to contend with a global pandemic before, they are no strangers to adversity. The coronavirus is not the same as a hurricane or tsunami, but the lessons housing professionals learned during natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey are proving essential to navigating the current chaotic economic landscape. With experience renegotiating leases and providing relief for renters, the experts in the multifamily industry say that they have been able to quickly jump into action to address coronavirus-related challenges.
Nothing can compare to the crushing economic tsunami created by the coronavirus pandemic, but in the housing market, there are some parallels to natural disasters.
Lessons learned from those devastating events are helping the industry cope now.
In 2017, after Hurricane Harvey swamped Houston, thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed. Many were single-family rental homes owned by one of the nation’s largest rental REITs, American Homes 4 Rent.
With about half of its 3,200 homes damaged, several hundred severely, and some staff members unable to get to their offices, the company had to mobilize quickly, remotely.
Advertisement
Related Stories
Innovation
Florida Multifamily Housing Complex Built Using Lego Block–Like System
This patented mineral composite, fiber-reinforced building system stacks Lego-like blocks to create a building solution its creator says is both sustainable and resilient
Affordability
Possible Boost for Affordable Housing in New York City
The developer of New York's Freedom Plaza has added a major affordable housing piece to the project, hoping that will help push through other components of the development
Design
Motel Conversion: A Motel Becomes a Model for Affordable Housing
A dilapidated Econo Lodge motel becomes the prototype for an adaptive reuse program to provide supportive housing