Part 2: Planning Documents for Semi-Structured Interviews with Service Providers

Preliminary fieldwork in 2019 focused on collecting data from service providers in community-based organizations that serve the Mexican immigrant community in Houston with post-disaster housing. In fall 2021, it was just over two years since I last interviewed representatives of the focal organizations in this study (and four years since Harvey). It was crucial to collect follow-up interviews given that tropical storms Imelda and Beta, winter storm Uri, and the COVID-19 pandemic have occurred since I last spoke to service providers. Based on informal conversations with providers and my own ties to my native city of Houston, many Black and Latine, particularly Mexican, households were still waiting for financial assistance for Harvey from city programs and/or were still living in damaged homes in 2021. It is imperative to understand how service providers were helping those that were still struggling with housing damage years after Harvey and in light of the multiple disasters that have unfolded since. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has only exacerbated these challenges. For instance, many community members lost jobs, were evicted, or were told to shelter-in-place in a post-Harvey, mold-infested home. I asked providers about the cumulative effects of the tropical and winter storms and the pandemic to understand how they affected their ability to serve Mexican immigrant women who were still struggling to recover from Harvey four years after the storm. Further, given the number of years that passed since Harvey, I asked providers about the actions they witnessed Mexican immigrant women taking to facilitate their own recovery. Data is being deidentified and will be published soon.