Hurricane Harvey, Climate Change & Social Reproduction

Huricane Harvey

The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston serves as a microcosm reflecting national and international dynamics. Harvey stands as a symbol of climate catastrophe, austerity, intrastate conflict, and a deepening deterioration of living standards for working-class people. Describing Harvey as merely exacerbating pre-existing tensions fails to capture the complexity of Houston’s current transformation. In the aftermath of Harvey, capitalists have initiated an extreme intensification of contracted social reproduction. With the hurricane season concluding, this essay reflects on and analyzes the profound impact of Harvey on Houston, the execution of contracted reproduction, evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of relief efforts and mutual aid organizing, and outlines ideas to advance future struggles around climate disaster.

Houston Before Harvey: A Brief Overview

When Hurricane Harvey struck the Gulf Coast, attention was focused on Texas for valid reasons. The estimated $125 billion in damages caused by Harvey ranks second only to Hurricane Katrina. In the aftermath of Harvey, the working-class in Houston is grappling with efforts to organize and resist the capitalist restructuring evident in the top-down reshaping of proletarian life. Independent research underscores how chaotic planning by capitalists contributed to the flooding. This summary explores why Houston faced such destruction and how it is linked to the design of urban capitalism.

Over the last two decades, Houston has experienced significant growth due to its business-friendly environment with low taxes, lenient zoning laws, right-to-work status, and low costs for capitalists in reproducing the working class. The population boom has fueled urban sprawl, particularly in suburbs like Katy to the west of the city. Katy, home to diminishing wetlands, plays a crucial role in water retention and flood prevention. The expansion of suburbs has led to the loss of over 54,000 acres of wetlands, replaced by impermeable surfaces like concrete and asphalt, exacerbating water runoff and flooding.

The rush to accommodate the surging population resulted in the construction of homes in flood-prone areas. Multiple suburbs were built in known floodplains or along bayous previously inundated during floods in 2015 and 2016. The city’s infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with its growth. Inadequate highways, subpar public transit, and aging sewage systems and dams contribute to the city’s infrastructural challenges. The Metro Rail construction mainly benefits gentrifying inner-city neighborhoods, leaving most proletarians dependent on cars due to poor public transit. The outdated flood prevention measures, such as retention ponds, only offer temporary solutions. The poor infrastructure not only impacts the quality of life but also adds financial burdens to residents.

Houston Before Harvey: A Brief Overview

When Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast, all eyes were on Texas, and for good reason. The damage caused by Harvey, estimated at $125 billion, is second only to Hurricane Katrina. In the wreckage of Harvey, proletarians in Houston are struggling to gain a foothold, organize themselves, and fight back against the capitalist onslaught manifest in the top-down restructuring of proletarian life. Much independent research demonstrates how the chaotic planning and organizing of the city by capitalists exacerbated the flooding. What follows is a summation of why Houston experienced such destruction and how that destruction relates to urban capitalist design.

In the last two decades, Houston has grown tremendously due to the business-friendly environment of low taxes, lax zoning laws, being a right-to-work state, and low costs to capitalists on reproducing the working class, i.e. wages, education, health care, housing, pensions, etc. Due to the population boom, urban sprawl in Houston has taken off. A major area where this sprawl is occurring is to the west of the city in a suburb called Katy. Katy is home to shrinking wetlands. In the Gulf Coast region, wetlands play a significant role in retaining, purifying, and steadily filtering out water after downpours into bayous, streams, and creeks as they make their way back to the Gulf. Wetlands act as the Earth’s natural kidneys and an organic flood deterrent. With the expansion of suburbs into this area Houston lost over 54,000 acres of wetlands in just over 10 years. These wetlands are being replaced with impermeable surfaces like concrete and asphalt, which make up structures such as roads, sidewalks, parking lots, etc. The effect of this is increased and faster water runoff that aggravates flooding in a flat city like Houston. Where homes were built by developers contributed to the flooding as well. In the rush to get up homes because of the surge in population, many were constructed in areas that were prone to flooding. In fact, there are multiple suburbs that were built in known flood plains, or along bayous that were previously inundated during the Memorial Day flood of 2015 and Tax Day flood of 2016. Infrastructural problems consistently plague the city.

Anyone living in Houston can attest to the fact that the infrastructure has not kept pace with the city’s growth. Highways remain undersized and public transit is terrible. The construction of the Metro Rail in 2001 within the 610 Highway mainly serves the gentrifying neighborhoods of the inner city. For most proletarians in the city, owning a car is an unavoidable necessity. The poor physical condition of roads provides a constant wear and tear on vehicles and is a continuous maintenance expense for car owners. Relatedly, the structures in place that are designed to prevent flooding, like sewage systems and dams, are just as old and ill-equipped to deal with stronger storms and heavier rains. In terms of flood prevention, what exists is a web of band-aids that include retention ponds that do nothing to address the problem. As you can imagine, all this poor infrastructure dips into people’s wallets and affects the quality of life in the city.

Houston After Harvey: Deepening Crisis of Social Reproduction

In the aftermath of Harvey, the lives of Houstonians have been sent into a tailspin. Most of the expense in repairing damages caused by the hurricane has been thrust onto the backs of the working class. While much of Houston was impacted in one way or another by Harvey, damage was experienced unevenly across the city. Many people were affected, including upper and lower middle-class Houstonians. But, the hardest-hit areas were those of working-class Black and Latino neighborhoods on the North, Southwest, and Southeast parts of Houston. A look will be taken at a number of aspects that exemplify how capitalists are carrying out contracted social reproduction since the hurricane.

In the fallout of Harvey, the Texas economy has taken a hit as thousands of people were left unemployed. This takes place as cities like Houston and Dallas struggle year after year with budget shortfalls. The cumulative and real impact of this is being felt in myriad ways. Housing is a prime example of how Houstonians are dealing with bigger financial burdens as rental prices have been consistently increasing and spiked after Harvey. There are countless stories of landlords demanding rent with the threat of eviction right after the storm. Additionally, there is a climb in home foreclosures because people don’t have the financial means to rebuild. These foreclosed homes are then getting purchased by speculators looking to scavenge off the misery and make a profit. Getting the needed funds to repair homes through FEMA has been a nightmare to navigate, and many low-income communities have been left with little to no aid.

Gentrification is a constant worry after mega-storms like Harvey. Already, there are seeing rumblings of gentrification in neighborhoods like 5th Ward, 3rd Ward, 2nd Ward, and others. All working-class and poor neighborhoods that have been historically Black and Latino have become trendier due to their proximity to downtown and the recent amenities constructed for the new multiracial class of gentrifiers. To top it off, the city continues to approve housing development in flood-susceptible areas ensuring future housing desolation and climate refugees.

Education is another affected area after the storm. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is under threat of privatization due to persistent budget shortfalls. The push for charterization by the state was set in motion after the passing of HB 1482, which puts a limit on how many years schools function as under-performing before being forced to charterize. For now, a stalemate has been reached, and the proposal to charterize 10 HISD schools has been put on hold after an outcry by community members and activists.