Across 550 counties, Rice University and Kinder Institute researchers found that FEMA buyout participants moved an average of five to ten miles. People stayed local. What researchers call "the social value of home" could, in theory, survive that distance.
In Harris County, where 585 predominantly Latino households and 390 property owners faced the nation's largest mandatory buyout, the average conceals a harsher sorting. Homeowners with $80,000 properties moved three times farther than those with $280,000 homes. Participants landed in areas 34 percent whiter and 32 percent wealthier.