During the U.S. Independence Day holiday, I was reflecting on the origin and growth of this nation, fueled at every step by immigrants. At the same time, a major hurricane and the residual tropical storm swept across the country from Texas to New England, damaging buildings with high winds, heavy rain, and flooding; massive wildfires were blazing in western states, threatening thousands of homes; communities in Iowa were still recovering from record flooding in June; and numerous locations are rebuilding after unprecedented tornado activity in the spring. I can’t stop thinking about all the communities that need help getting back on their feet when disasters strike.
After a disaster, time is of the essence. Roofs need to be repaired to prevent additional water damage, wet carpeting, gypsum board, and insulation must be removed quickly to prevent mold growth. Homes, businesses, and schools must be repaired so people have safe places to live and are able to return to work and school. It can take years for local economies to recover after a disaster event, so the sooner that clean-up and rebuilding is completed, the sooner that overall recovery can begin. If local residents don’t have places to live and functioning schools to send their kids to, and if local employers don’t have places to conduct business, employees who are housed and able to send their kids to school, and customers to buy their products and services, a community will falter in its recovery.
The tragic and ever-increasing frequency and severity of natural hazards is driving up the demand for disaster recovery workers. I recently learned that the rapidly growing disaster clean-up and restoration industry is heavily dependent on immigrant labor. I recall the well-known line by the Lafayette and Hamilton characters in the popular musical Hamilton, “Immigrants: we get the job done.” Data is not readily available because the restoration industry is unregulated and dispersed. Still, it is estimated that a mobile workforce of more than 400,000 people currently provides this vital support for U.S. communities hit by floods, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other disasters. As we see more of these disasters every year, the demand for this workforce will only increase.
This important clean up and restoration work can also be grueling and dangerous. Extreme weather conditions, high heat and humidity, heavy rain and wind, or bitter cold conditions often hamper the work. Downed power lines, splintered debris, and partially collapsed buildings create hazardous working conditions. Workers are also exposed to potentially hazardous materials, including mold, asbestos, and chemicals. Unfortunately, due to lack of oversight of this urgent but intermittent work, laborers are sometimes subject to abuse, including lax safety precautions, adequate provisions of hydration, nutrition, and rest, and wage theft.
After helping to expose labor abuses by restoration companies working on Hurricane Katrina recovery, Saket Soni founded Resilience Force.1,2 This organization and others like it are working to create a trained and capable workforce to meet the growing demand for disaster restoration services, as well as proactive adaptation retrofits to build more resilient communities, while also fostering racial and economic equity. Many of us will at some point in our lives find ourselves in need of disaster clean-up and restoration support. Just as we find insurance coverage a reassuring backstop, it is also comforting to think that there might be capable people who are willing and able to do the hard work to help us get back on our feet. At this most vulnerable time, we want help quickly and we should also want to know that that help is fairly compensated and that their health and safety is protected. Overcoming our misfortune should not necessitate the misfortune of others.
Why is a proactive approach to building and maintaining a healthy disaster recovery workforce necessary? The current U.S. unemployment rate is only 4.1 percent, with approximately two million unemployment insurance claims. At this time of high interest rates and a depressed construction market, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has said the construction industry is still short by about 500,000 workers this year and an additional 450,000 workers will be needed in 2025, even if the growth in construction spending is slow. According to Business Insider, the workers shortage is the largest issue currently facing builders. On top of this, the disaster recovery and resilience adaptation workforce will need to double by the end of this decade, to roughly one million people. Obviously, a new approach is needed to meet the growing demand and ensure that communities struck by disaster don’t languish and die for lack of labor to execute clean-up and restoration in a timely manner. More importantly, additional labor resources are needed to execute proactive resilience retrofits to homes and commercial buildings to reduce vulnerability to future disasters.
Given all this, there is a great opportunity for new policies to ensure a robust restoration industry while protecting disaster-struck business and homeowners and the health and life safety of the workers who provide this vital labor.3 Elevating this industry would be a win-win-win for the many communities that will inevitably face disaster, the businesses that stand to profit from this ever-increasing demand, and the tens of thousands of people, both citizens and immigrants, seeking a just livelihood.
Given the growing demand and the shortage of labor, this great nation, built by immigrants, will also need to rely on immigrants as part of a vibrant, can-do workforce to rebuild and become more resilient as we approach our semiquincentennial and beyond.
Alan Scott, FAIA, LEED Fellow, LEED AP BD+C, O+M, WELL AP, CEM, is an architect and consultant with over 35 years of experience in sustainable building design. To learn more, follow him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/alanscottfaia/.
Notes
1 newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/08/the-migrant-workers-who-follow-climate-disasters
2 resilienceforce.org/
3 publicintegrity.org/environment/toxic-labor/toxic-labor-disaster-workers/