Boulder Home Preparedness Assessment Pilot Program

Funding the Pilot Program

In January 2017, the City of Boulder and Boulder County used approximately $216,000 in funding awarded by the $ Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery$  to launch the $ Home Preparedness Assessment $ (HPA) pilot program. The HPA program was designed to help homeowners improve their resilience to natural disasters. Each participant received a home preparedness assessment conducted by a professional advisor.

These free one-hour consultations provided participants with a list of recommendations that, if performed, would improve their property's response to natural disasters including flood, fires, and droughts. Participants received a cash rebate of up to $500 to help offset the costs of these recommended improvements. The City of Boulder and Boulder County each contributed $25,000 toward these rebates and enlisted local businesses to peform the services necessary for the improvements at a reduced cost.

Selecting Program Participants

$ Ann Grodnik-Nagle$ , the project manager, announced that the pilot program would only contain 100 participants. According to the grant requirements, program eligiblity was limited to single-family or mobile-family homes that were directly impacted by the Colorado flood of 2013 in which $ over 250 homes were destroyed and 300 homes were damaged in Boulder County.$  The available spots in the HPA program were divided evenly between the City of Boulder and Boulder County on a first-come, first-served basis.

Home Preparedness Assessment Findings

$ The pilot program was quickly overbooked and ultimately contained 103 participating homes$ . The high-demand for these home preparedness assessments is likely due to widespread devastation caused by the Colorado flood of 2013. Approximately 40% of the program's participants applied for and received rebates for implementing their recommended improvements. The qualifying actions covered by these rebates included:

$ Replacing roof flashing near chimneys, inspecting gutters, inspecting and repairing sump pumps, installing permeable pavers, receiving a sanitary sewer scope, installing floor drain check and blackflow valves, evaluating prior damage, repairing seal cracks, lining sewer laterals, and replacing/repairing broken pipes.$ 

The low average score of the program participants indicated that homeowners have many opportunities to increase their resiliency. $ The most common recommendations in the program were sewer inspections and landscape repair.$  The majority of participants felt only moderately prepared for the next disaster and were not previously aware that they lived in a high-risk area for natural disasters.

Boulder is one of the first 32 cities chosen to participate in $ 100 Resilient Cities$ . This effort brings together 100 leading cities around the world to innovate solutions that support many other communities as they address the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.