What in the actual f

“In 2025 Americans would collectively spend more on their Halloween candy than their government did on life-saving humanitarian aid.” From Sam Vigersky at the @cfr.org: www.cfr.org/expert-brief...

Sourdough post of the week: proud of this loaf.

The length of the buyout process - even in more 'normal' times before the current administration - has been an enormous challenge for disaster survivors. Some can hang on, others need to move on. In both cases they come away resenting government at all levels. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

You’re what the French call Les incompétents

This is...not great! thehill.com/policy/energ...

Achieving disaster resilience means countless small efforts that together move the needle, each needing resources. In this case, a small CDBG-DR grant to determine how to reduce flood risk in a mobile home park while preserving affordable housing thevermontstandard.com/woodstock-re...

Wow who could have predicted ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...

The ongoing atmospheric river floods in Washington have caused devastation across a large part of the state. Here we provide some rapid analysis on the places that have likely been most impacted, and highlight several key considerations for recovery: www.urban.org/urban-wire/a...

We will share analysis on the Washington floods soon, and one issue we are zeroing in on is the number of manufactured home parks in heavily impacted areas. For example, 27% of the housing stock in Canyon Creek is manufactured according to the ACS. Why is that an issue? www.urban.org/urban-wire/w...

This is the stuff that streamers are pumping into the heads of their young audience, especially young boys/men. This plus sports gambling is going to be just catastrophic for an entire generation or more. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I hope that this model of funding might spread beyond the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s technology directorate. In short, grants to teams of scientists with a mission focus, and success based on metrics other than just scientific papers published. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-ann...

Reporting from CNN on the cancellation the Review Council meeting, which took DHS by surprise www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/p...

I promise not to write this many posts in a single week again, but the news just keeps coming. Here I break down the states' legal win over the cancellation of the BRIC program: open.substack.com/pub/andrewru...

The @washingtonpost.com has details: cancellation of the Review Council meeting was at direction of the White House, over concerns with the specificity and actionability of the findings. The final report was ~80 pages. It was last minute: several council members were left waiting in a hotel lobby.

Has anyone received their link to the Review Council meeting today?

Highlights of Review Council recommendations: block grants to states for recovery, higher disaster declaration thresholds, lower federal cost shares, dramatic reduction in FEMA staff, agency renaming, and FEMA to remain in DHS.

A bit lost in the FEMA news this week...the Road to Housing Act provisions were stripped from the National Defense Authorization Act by the House (it was included in the Senate version). That means that the permanent authorization of the CDBG-DR program is again on hold, at least until next year.

Sourdough post of the week: blister edition.

Only a couple of days before the FEMA Review Council releases its recommendations. What questions are on my mind? I'm glad you asked! open.substack.com/pub/andrewru...

It appears that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has, within the past week, scrubbed a large amount of climate change content from its official website, as well as *removed human-caused warming* from the discussion on its "causes of climate change" page.

Please share with your talented undergraduates looking for employment in 2026! We are hiring a research assistant to join our Climate and Communities team at Urban. They will be a core contributor to numerous impact-oriented research projects and work with an incredible group of colleagues:

After the Marshall Fire, officials designed a voluntary program to encourage homeowners to rebuild to higher energy standards. More than 70% of eligible households took part. How did they do it, and what lessons were learned? What would they do differently in the future? Read our analysis here:

After the Marshall Fire, leaders in Colorado created the Rebuilding Better program, an incentive-based effort to encourage survivors to rebuild to higher energy standards. We spent time with program leaders to document the lessons they learned, to help guide other communities:

Interesting and some similar findings as our recent surveys in Colorado. In the US context, particularly troubling, given the attack on institutional emergency management.

Read this whole thread 👇👇

We (my old DOD job) talked about this extensively in our FTAC report (A Federal Framework and Action Plan for Climate Services) that no one ever read or covered in the media. bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/u...

I've made the claim that the academic planning community got caught flat-footed by the YIMBY movement because of a relative lack of interest in zoning as a research topic, despite its importance to the profession. I did some more digging with the assistance of an AI. Here are the results:

This is the conclusion that I hope we will draw from the Zillow drama... that we need a gold-standard national data source for property-level risk to climate hazards that is transparent, accessible, and legally defensible. Private companies can help build it but the public needs to own it.

I guess I’m not surprised but the characterization of people re: Zillow as being either “for” or “against” climate transparency is so simplistic. You can be all for climate data and also questioning whether products like First Street are appropriate for property level risk assessment.

I wrote about Kai Erickson and the enduring legacy of Everything in its Path: open.substack.com/pub/andrewru...

Everything in its Path is one of the two of three most foundational texts in my understanding of disasters and how they impact people and communities. Erickson was a true giant in our field. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/o...

Testing out a hunch...for those who live or grew up in a place they consider rural, I'm curious what the RUCC classification is for that place? I grew up in Dubois County, Indiana, which has a RUCC code of 5. www.ers.usda.gov/data-product...

Interesting that the US Army Museum emphasizes geography based learning

The full special issue on manufactured housing coming soon, but for now you can read several excellent articles, including this ethnographic study of a mobile home park in Idaho and the role it played for households navigating the housing affordability crisis: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Sourdough post of the week: dinner rolls.

The Enabling Program was a critical step in my development as a disaster scientist. It will soon be accepting applications for the 6th cohort. If you are a junior faculty member who does research on disasters and climate extremes, I strongly recommend applying: hazards.colorado.edu/resources/ns...

Have a disaster nerd in your life? Need a gift? A few ideas: andrewrumbach.substack.com/p/my-2025-di...

This cake rules www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz3j...

Sourdough post of the week: sesame and sunflower loaf.

In a resource constrained world, where can solar investments maximize equity by reducing energy burdens? The Solar Opportunity Index from my Urban climate colleagues takes into account factors like minority homeownership and roof suitability to target investments: www.urban.org/research/pub...

Wow crypto is in an absolute free fall

There aren’t many things to be optimistic about right now in the disaster arena. But decentralizing policy could create opportunities for rigorous research and evidence-based decision-making: open.substack.com/pub/andrewru...

Ok, housing policy hot shots...dream job opportunity just dropped: www.jchs.harvard.edu/nicolas-p-an...

The pieces of the FEMA reform puzzle are starting to come together. Not a ton of detail here but it is notable that the draft recommendations from the advisory committee include potentially restoring cabinet level status to FEMA. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/c...

Best piece so far: www.cnn.com/2025/11/17/p...

When everyone's phone at the resilience-focused luncheon buzzes simultaneously: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/c...

I take offense to the Daily’s description of ‘changing how zoning works’ as unsexy.

One of the neatest early examples of pre-fabricated housing in the U.S. were kit homes, most famously made by Sears...people would order their home from the catalog and the parts would be delivered by rail and they would assemble them on-site. www.searshouses.com