Part 1: U.S. Disaster Recovery Policy Documents

I utilized a curated list of databases to search for federal (U.S.), state (TX), and local (Houston) policy documents and reports. Databases included search tools like Google and Google Scholar as well as more specific databases. I focused on Harris County as it contains the largest bulk of the City of Houston and was allocated the largest amount of recovery money for Harvey from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (TGLO 2019). My aim is to explore how disaster recovery policy addresses issues related to gender, ethnicity, and citizenship status more broadly and if there have been changes over time. In specific, I aim to identify if and how policies are racialized or gendered. As such, I am not focused on a particular time frame. I deemed federal, state, and local policy documents and reports relevant if they a) discussed disaster recovery resource allocation and eligibility more broadly or b) focused on Harvey, tropical storms Imelda or Beta, winter storm Uri, COVID-19, or other disasters that have affected Houston in particular. In addition, a few service providers shared state and local policy documents on Harvey recovery resource allocation during preliminary fieldwork. These will be included in my analysis.