P4A launches new report: Buying out the Floodplain
Partners for Action (P4A) led an applied research project, Effective Property Buyout Programs to Reduce Flood Risk, funded by the Max Bell Foundation, to advise policymakers on how to evaluate effective property buyout program design.
The research identified three main challenges related to the successful implementation of a buyout program and have noted various best practices and proposals to mitigate those difficulties:
- Cost efficiency – cost-benefit
- Social acceptability – transparency, public engagement, equity
- Political feasibility – support among elected officials and influential stakeholders
Through national stakeholder workshops, surveys, and primary research, P4A disseminated practical knowledge that would enable communities across Canada to reduce the risks and costs associated with flooding and strengthen their own community's resilience in the face of climate change. Based on our literature review, case study analysis, and feedback from these workshops and surveys, P4A researchers have made eight recommendations for designing and administering a buyout program in Canada that is cost-efficient, socially acceptable, and politically feasible.
These recommendations are explored in our full report Buying out the floodplain: recommendations for strategic relocation programs in Canada, released in Spring 2023.
In launching the report, P4A hosted a webinar with Principal Investigator, Dr. Jason Thistlethwaite, and Graham Watt, the Manager of Strategic Initiatives/Flood Recovery with the City of Grand Forks, a community that developed a property buyout program in the aftermath of the 2018 floods.
Learn more about P4A's work on strategic relocation by visiting our website.
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