Andrew Rumbach
@andrewrumbach.bsky.social
Urban & regional scientist. Co-lead of the Climate & Communities program @urbaninstitute. Research & policy analysis on disasters, disaster recovery, precarious housing, land use, and adaptation. Sourdough enthusiast. https://andrewrumbach.substack.com
Pinned
Zoned Into Risk?
Climate-driven hazards such as floods and wildfires are growing more frequent and more severe, affecting communities across the United States. Zoning is one tool available to local governments to redu...
www.urban.org
We have talked about how zoning constrains housing supply, but what about climate resilience? In this new brief, our team at @urbaninstitute.bsky.social and @sarabronin.bsky.social pilot a technical approach for measuring zoning's relationship to risk and resilience: www.urban.org/research/pub...
Fun fact: a homeowner in the 100-year floodplain with a 50-year mortgage would have a 39.5% chance of experiencing at least one 100-year flood during their mortgage period.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/b...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/b...
Trump just floated a 50-year mortgage. Is that a good idea? | CNN Business
Most first-time homebuyers in the United States take out 30-year mortgages. Under a new proposal from the Trump administration, they may soon have an even longer loan option.
www.cnn.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Fun fact: a homeowner in the 100-year floodplain with a 50-year mortgage would have a 39.5% chance of experiencing at least one 100-year flood during their mortgage period.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/b...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/b...
Are you connected with recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene? If so, a request...we are beginning a new study on household financial recovery after the hurricane and hoping to interview several dozen households across all of the affected states.
November 10, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Are you connected with recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene? If so, a request...we are beginning a new study on household financial recovery after the hurricane and hoping to interview several dozen households across all of the affected states.
This is a wonderful piece of journalism from Wisconsin that highlights two of the most pervasive barriers to expanding the manufactured housing market for working families: zoning restrictions and social stigma around 'trailers.' Both are relics. wisconsinwatch.org/2025/11/wisc...
‘Finally ours’: Factory-built homes help families realize ownership dreams. But stigma and barriers persist.
A more efficient, affordable development model helps Habitat for Humanity build more homes during a housing crisis. But some Wisconsin municipalities exclude manufactured homes from neighborhoods.
wisconsinwatch.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:54 PM
This is a wonderful piece of journalism from Wisconsin that highlights two of the most pervasive barriers to expanding the manufactured housing market for working families: zoning restrictions and social stigma around 'trailers.' Both are relics. wisconsinwatch.org/2025/11/wisc...
Book recommendations for a 7 year old book worm? She loves almost everything and looking for something a little more challenging/rewarding than Dog Man or the like. Graphic novels/comic recommendations welcome too.
November 5, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Book recommendations for a 7 year old book worm? She loves almost everything and looking for something a little more challenging/rewarding than Dog Man or the like. Graphic novels/comic recommendations welcome too.
Fits the recent pattern with the federal government, i.e. a sharp curtailment in hazard mitigation spending: wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/trump...
Trump administration denies flood mitigation funds for Milwaukee • Wisconsin Examiner
The Trump Administration has denied flood mitigation funds to Wisconsin, despite flood risks remaining high due to climate change.
wisconsinexaminer.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Fits the recent pattern with the federal government, i.e. a sharp curtailment in hazard mitigation spending: wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/trump...
20 years later, remembering the Evansville
tornado outbreak that killed 24 people, most in the Eastbrook mobile home park. 60 miles from my hometown it was the event (w/Katrina) that cemented my understanding of how the built environment shapes vulnerability.
tornado outbreak that killed 24 people, most in the Eastbrook mobile home park. 60 miles from my hometown it was the event (w/Katrina) that cemented my understanding of how the built environment shapes vulnerability.
November 3, 2025 at 4:46 PM
20 years later, remembering the Evansville
tornado outbreak that killed 24 people, most in the Eastbrook mobile home park. 60 miles from my hometown it was the event (w/Katrina) that cemented my understanding of how the built environment shapes vulnerability.
tornado outbreak that killed 24 people, most in the Eastbrook mobile home park. 60 miles from my hometown it was the event (w/Katrina) that cemented my understanding of how the built environment shapes vulnerability.
How can you not be romantic about baseball
November 2, 2025 at 3:19 AM
How can you not be romantic about baseball
The amount of toy junk that is given to kids is ridiculous, it’s like a never ending Zerg creep that you have to endlessly push back. Can we just not hand out trinkets at every minor event or opportunity?
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The amount of toy junk that is given to kids is ridiculous, it’s like a never ending Zerg creep that you have to endlessly push back. Can we just not hand out trinkets at every minor event or opportunity?
Preach!
Reminds me of climate people sniping at each other for not using “their” preferred messaging, as if looking at their imagined audience and perfectly calibrating the hope-vs-fear dial is what will finally wean society off of fossil fuels and fix food and land use systems
“Elections are determined by (1) your message, (2) the messenger, (3) the media environment, and (4) the moment. The only thing that political campaigns control is (1). There is a long-standing bad habit among pundits of treating it as the only thing that matters.” newrepublic.com/article/2023...
November 1, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Preach!
Halloween in a walkable neighborhood is life affirming
November 1, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Halloween in a walkable neighborhood is life affirming
Getting sassed by the older kids, a DC Halloween tradition
October 31, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Getting sassed by the older kids, a DC Halloween tradition
Reposted by Andrew Rumbach
Trouble ahead: “Nevada is home to the fastest rate of Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) development in the country—over the last 30 years, the number of homes in the WUI more than tripled. The state has also seen nearly 20% of its land area burn over the last 40 years.”
Nevada just let property insurers exclude wildfire coverage. Homeowners won’t realize until it’s too late that fire isn't covered. Expect shock, underinsurance, and scrambling for expensive new policies. Plus: pressure for a federal wildfire safety net. open.substack.com/pub/susanpcr...
What happens if property insurers are allowed to exclude wildfires from coverage?
“Are we just going to turn everybody loose and let the fires burn our houses down?” Nevada just did — and others may follow.
open.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Trouble ahead: “Nevada is home to the fastest rate of Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) development in the country—over the last 30 years, the number of homes in the WUI more than tripled. The state has also seen nearly 20% of its land area burn over the last 40 years.”
Basement apartments are another way that naturally occurring affordable housing often intersects with risk:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/n...
2 Men Die in Basement Flooding as Sudden Downpour Hits New York Area
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Basement apartments are another way that naturally occurring affordable housing often intersects with risk:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/n...
Are you or someone you can recommend an expert in post-disaster debris removal and property remediation? I have a journalist I've worked with in the past writing on the topic and hoping to help connect them to someone who knows their stuff.
October 29, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Are you or someone you can recommend an expert in post-disaster debris removal and property remediation? I have a journalist I've worked with in the past writing on the topic and hoping to help connect them to someone who knows their stuff.
Looking forward to reading this. While I think that balancing analysis re: disaster losses between climate & development decisions is important, I’ve never understood why some of Pielke basic methods (e.g. using a property damage only dataset) and assumptions aren’t more frequently challenged.
this is a very impressive analysis of some of the statistical "oddities" in Pielke Jr's analysis that normalized climate impacts are declining. Everyone should read this.
economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters – Economics from the Top Down
In a recent paper called Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”, Roger Pielke Jr. published a chart that's so bad I've devoted a whole essay to debunking it.
economicsfromthetopdown.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Looking forward to reading this. While I think that balancing analysis re: disaster losses between climate & development decisions is important, I’ve never understood why some of Pielke basic methods (e.g. using a property damage only dataset) and assumptions aren’t more frequently challenged.
Sourdough post of the week (month?) Pizza and breadsticks.
October 29, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Sourdough post of the week (month?) Pizza and breadsticks.
I’m no expert on how the US in the before times would have assisted Jamaica through USAID and the military’s humanitarian missions…is anyone able to provide a rundown? I’m sure our amazing civil society organizations will be there, but what have we lost in terms of capacity and resources on offer?
October 28, 2025 at 11:48 AM
I’m no expert on how the US in the before times would have assisted Jamaica through USAID and the military’s humanitarian missions…is anyone able to provide a rundown? I’m sure our amazing civil society organizations will be there, but what have we lost in terms of capacity and resources on offer?
Whatever kind of beliefs you have about prayers, good energy, etc. you have please send it towards Jamaica.
October 28, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Whatever kind of beliefs you have about prayers, good energy, etc. you have please send it towards Jamaica.
Reposted by Andrew Rumbach
Over the past year, the social fabric of Palmer Lake, Colorado, has been torn apart by a gas station — an enormous gas station.
Buc-ee’s wants to erect a 74,000-square-foot travel plaza along the nearby interstate. And not everyone is happy about it.
Buc-ee’s wants to erect a 74,000-square-foot travel plaza along the nearby interstate. And not everyone is happy about it.
A colossal Buc-ee’s broke a small Colorado town
In the quest to preserve the character of Palmer Lake something has already been lost: civility.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Over the past year, the social fabric of Palmer Lake, Colorado, has been torn apart by a gas station — an enormous gas station.
Buc-ee’s wants to erect a 74,000-square-foot travel plaza along the nearby interstate. And not everyone is happy about it.
Buc-ee’s wants to erect a 74,000-square-foot travel plaza along the nearby interstate. And not everyone is happy about it.
Need to get in the zone to do some boring but important work, time to put on my pump up music (which is actually the movie Spotlight)
October 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Need to get in the zone to do some boring but important work, time to put on my pump up music (which is actually the movie Spotlight)
Studying illegal construction in the East Calcutta Wetlands, there were stories of the land mafia sneaking onto properties in the dead of night to fill the fishing ponds with soil before any environmental group could object. Then the only use was to build buildings. Speaking of the White House.
October 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Studying illegal construction in the East Calcutta Wetlands, there were stories of the land mafia sneaking onto properties in the dead of night to fill the fishing ponds with soil before any environmental group could object. Then the only use was to build buildings. Speaking of the White House.
"Pinellas County identified 1,400 mobile homes, which typically provide critical affordable housing, that needed substantial damage assessments following Hurricanes Helene and Milton."
stpetecatalyst.com/storm-damage...
stpetecatalyst.com/storm-damage...
Storm-damaged mobile home park’s redevelopment stalls
“I hate to say this, but it doesn’t matter what St. Pete did right across the street.”…
stpetecatalyst.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM
"Pinellas County identified 1,400 mobile homes, which typically provide critical affordable housing, that needed substantial damage assessments following Hurricanes Helene and Milton."
stpetecatalyst.com/storm-damage...
stpetecatalyst.com/storm-damage...
Not all upzoning is about single family housing...here you get significantly more housing units, and greater attention to flood risk, but at the price of displacing some of the County's most economically precarious households www.wtsp.com/article/news...
Residents being relocated as Pinellas County mobile home park faces rezoning
Residents of Twin City Mobile Home Park are being relocated as Pinellas County considers a rezoning plan that would redevelop the storm-damaged community.
www.wtsp.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Not all upzoning is about single family housing...here you get significantly more housing units, and greater attention to flood risk, but at the price of displacing some of the County's most economically precarious households www.wtsp.com/article/news...
I don't get shocked by much anymore but the President deciding to demolish half of the White House without warning is actually shocking to me.
October 22, 2025 at 11:21 PM
I don't get shocked by much anymore but the President deciding to demolish half of the White House without warning is actually shocking to me.
I'm not tracking as closely as when I was in the business, but seems like a very good year for the academic planning job market. Great news for PhD grads and recent grads, and a decent number of Associate positions too...
October 22, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I'm not tracking as closely as when I was in the business, but seems like a very good year for the academic planning job market. Great news for PhD grads and recent grads, and a decent number of Associate positions too...