The storms left behind incredible devastation to St. John’s housing. The ordinarily arduous task of rebuilding is additionally challenging due to limited contractors, difficulties obtaining building supplies, and delays with insurance and storm reimbursement programs. Nearly a year later, many families are still living in storm damaged homes, including structures in need of roof repairs.

Coordination of rebuilding can help ensure that individuals are taking advantage of all applicable resources and rebuilding in the most effective and efficient way possible. The rebuilding process is an ideal time to implement key mitigation strategies that will better allow buildings to withstand future storms. The Territory has adopted the most recent building codes; education is needed to ensure individuals have the most current information to help make decisions about how to rebuild or how to retrofit homes to withstand future storm impacts. The Housing and Construction Long-term Recovery Working Group, in coordination with Love City Strong and the St. John Community Foundation, have established a Resilient Housing Initiative to complete rebuild/repair of homes in the most efficient way possible, taking advantages of all public funds, private donations and volunteer labor while avoiding any duplication of benefits. The group is identifying a mechanism to bring skilled labor to St. John to fill an ongoing void. This well-defined process has the ability to ramp up quickly and get people back in a safe and secure living environment. As additional funds are acquired, this initiative has the potential to continue to expand to include building/repairing rental units and building new affordable housing.

IMPLEMENTATION STEPS: 1. Continue vetting rebuilding projects through the Disaster Case Management system 2. Coordinate the construction process through housing and construction coordinators, hired by the Long-term Recovery Group and Love City Strong. 3. Support and train construction crews to incorporate mitigation best practices. 4. Track rebuilding activity and incorporate this data into a GIS database 5. Secure additional funding increase the number of houses and rental units that can be repaired through this process 6. Provide education about building homes to withstand hurricanes, understanding the new building codes, and the importance of following the codes.

Key Players: St. John LTRT; Love City Strong Alignment: Housing RSFs Cost: > 1 Million Timeline: One - Three Years