Case Studies
Attainable Solutions for Single-Family Resilience: The Hurricane-Strong Home in Breezy Point, Queens
A nonprofit partnered with private companies to rebuild the home of a Breezy Point resident using highly resilient and sustainable standards following Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Superstorm Sandy was the most destructive natural disaster in the history of New York City. The storm surge touched 76,000 buildings and 16.6% of the land in the City.1 The storm caused over $60 billion in economic damages across the state, $8.1 billion of which is attributable to climate change-induced sea level rise.2 Over 69,000 units in New York City were damaged.3 Floodwater entered the basement and first-floor levels of structures, leading to equipment and utility failures as well as damage to the structural integrity of the buildings.4 The extent to which the storm affected single-family homes shows that there is a need to retrofit existing homes and construct new ones to be resilient to natural disasters.
Recovery and Adaptation
Highlights
- Building occupants are reluctant to relocate, even in communities highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Building resilience measures allow residents to stay safely in their homes while saving money in the long term.
- Resilience measures provide savings in insurance, maintenance, energy, and rebuilding costs throughout the building’s lifecycle. The new hurricane-strong home in Breezy Point is only 7% to 9% more expensive to build than a typical home. With energy, maintenance, and insurance savings, the upgrades pay for themselves in 8 to 10 years.
The retrofit and adaptation of homes post-Sandy has been difficult due to funding and regulatory restrictions. Many single-family recovery programs funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provide aid only for temporary or replacement housing, damage repairs, or personal property replacement, with no provision for resilience projects to prevent future damage. New York City’s Build It Back funding provided homeowners and renters more control over repairs and adaptations than usual for funded solutions under large entities. The Build It Back program has helped re-house over 32,000 households since its inception, with approximately 12,000 single-family homes either repaired, reimbursed, or acquired.5
With funding from the Build It Back program, the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Inc. (FLASH) partnered with the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and the Insurance Information Institute to rebuild the family home of Diane Hellriegel in Breezy Point, Queens, to higher standards.6–8 The new home was only 7% to 9% more expensive to build than a typical home, and with energy, maintenance, and insurance savings, the upgrades are expected to pay for themselves in 8 to 10 years. The Hellriegel home combines the resilience principles of the national #HurricaneStrong resilience initiative with international passive house standards. The home’s design acts as a saferoom in the event of a disaster, with durable materials and a renewable energy system that allow the home to support itself without access to the grid. A reinforced concrete closed foundation with supporting fins lifts the structure 15 feet above flood elevation, with an additional few feet for projected water level rise.
Stainless steel dual-action flood vents allow floodwater to enter and exit the foundation to prevent structural damage from hydrostatic pressure. The builders used concrete elsewhere in the structure, such as in the wall construction and roof tiles. The durability of the home’s material will ensure that it remains in place in high winds and withstands impact from flying debris. While these materials are strong, they do not look out of place in the neighborhood. The Hellriegel home demonstrates that single-family homeowners can attain climate resilience and sustainability.
References
1. NYU Furman Center & NYU Moelis Institute. (2013). Sandy’s effects on housing in New York City. https://furmancenter.org/files/publications/SandysEffectsOnHousingInNYC.pdf
2. Strauss, B. H., Orton, P. M., Bittermann, K., Buchanan, M. K., Gilford, D. M., Kopp, R. E., Kulp, S., Massey, C., Moel, H. de, & Vinogradov, S. (2021). Economic damages from Hurricane Sandy attributable to sea level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change. Nature Communications, 12(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22838-1
3. City of New York. (n.d.). Impact of Hurricane Sandy. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.nyc.gov/site/cdbgdr/hurricane-sandy/hurricane-sandy.page
4. City of New York. (2013). A stronger, more resilient New York (PlaNYC). NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency. https://www.nyc.gov/site/sirr/report/report.page
5. City of New York. (n.d.). Build it back. NYC Housing Recovery. Retrieved January 9, 2024, from https://www.nyc.gov/site/housingrecovery/resources/build-it-back.page
6. Federal Alliance for Safe Homes. (n.d.). Resilience: Strengthen your home. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://hurricanestrong.org/resilience/
7. Frankel, L. (2019, August 5). How a New York home was built to withstand a hurricane [James Hardie Building Products, Inc.]. https://www.jameshardiepros.com/blog/home-built-to-withstand-a-hurricane
8. +LAB architect. (n.d.). Making change. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.pluslabglobal.com/making-change