Natural disasters and the displacement that accompanies it, creates situations of generalized vulnerability especially for national racial/ethnic minorities, poor people, women, children, the elderly and other marginalized communities. The disruption of traditional cultural practices, psychological, emotional and physical trauma, dislocation from social networks, homes and communities, sources of income and heightened vulnerability to violence (by both the state and private actors) increases exponentially communities’ exposure to human rights violations. While, those displaced by armed conflict garner substantially more international attention, resources and moral indignation, persons displaced by floods, hurricanes and development projects are similarly subjected to a myriad of human rights abuses perpetrated by state and non-state actors that also require an international response and scholarly consideration. Moreover, national racial/ethnic minorities, many times a country’s most vulnerable citizens, are the most adversely affected by this phenomenon.

Today, tens of thousands of displaced Gulf Coast residents are still dispersed throughout the country and many of those that have returned are underemployed, homeless, unable to access adequate healthcare services- particularly mental health services, occupying toxic trailers
or substandard housing, unable to access affordable and sustainable housing due to the drastic decline in rental properties available or are unable to pay the skyrocketing rent. We know that there is a direct correlation between the diminution in affordable housing and a concomitant increase in homelessness. Moreover, various levels of government have either obstructed the process needed to create the conditions which would allow “internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence” in accordance with the “Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement” or erected enumerable bureaucratic measures that have similarly prevented a just recovery and reconstruction to be undertaken.