DISASTER RESPONSE
Our Experience
The members of our team have been involved in addressing some of the biggest natural and public health disasters of the last two decades.
Hepatitis A Outbreak
In 2017, a Hepatitis A outbreak began in the County of San Diego and subsequently spread throughout the United States. The C-tau team worked with the County’s Public Health department to reduce transmission by increasing public sanitation—by reopening public bathrooms, utilizing handwashing stations, and creating schedules to clean streets—and to improve connections between public health response authorities and shelter and housing programs.
Baton Rouge Flooding
In 2016, floods devastated Baton Rouge, LA with more than 20 inches of rain over the course of three days. In the immediate aftermath of the flooding, members of the C-tau team engaged with disaster response officials, disaster shelter operators, and local community-based organizations to deliver short and long term housing options for impacted households. The team’s assistance included supporting the redesign of the state’s disaster housing taskforce.
Drug-resistant Tuberculosis Outbreak
In 2014, a drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) outbreak spread throughout the Atlanta, GA shelter system. Members of the C-tau team worked with state and local officials in addition to CDC doctors to realign shelter practices and interrupt the spread of the disease. The team identified and implemented changes to the homeless service system’s multi-jurisdictional data system to confidentially alert exposed individuals, and designed workflows to transport those individuals for immediate testing.
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, impacted the City of New Orleans in 2005. Members of the C-tau team led the HUD technical assistance (TA) response team. Working with community-based organizations, they expanded and redesigned programs; leveraged local, national, and international relationships; and acquired resources to meet the overwhelming needs in the community.
Super Storm Sandy
In 2012, Super Storm Sandy moved from the Caribbean up the East Coast of the United States. Members of the C-tau team provided technical assistance to the city operated disaster shelter system. Through onsite deployment and engagement with shelter leadership, they realigned the shelter operations.
Hurricane Harvey
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall in Texas and Louisiana. Members of the C-tau team deployed in the immediate aftermath to the city of Houston to rapidly transition 1,600 survivors from a disaster shelter at the George R. Brown (GRB) Convention Center into sustainable living situations throughout the city. The team secured hundreds of rental units, connected survivors to case managers, and assisted them to move into permanent housing.
Hurricane Maria
Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 hurricane, hit the Caribbean in 2017. Members of the C-tau team worked on recovery strategies for the Puerto Rico homeless system. They helped to redesign the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program to streamline procurement strategies and embed a disaster policy to quickly disseminate funding. They also helped to develop preparedness strategies for shelters to support planning for future disasters.
Hurricane Florence
Hurricane Florence impacted the Carolinas in 2018. Members of the C-tau team worked with state and local partners on Back@Home North Carolina, a project designed to rapidly rehouse individuals who remained in disaster shelters following the hurricane. The Back@Home program and rehousing intervention reshaped the way disaster housing assistance was delivered in the state of North Carolina and was subsequently formalized as part of the state’s disaster response plan.
COVID-19 Pandemic
In 2019, the initial outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) began. Members of the C-tau team led national technical assistance interventions to decompress shelters, increase staff capacity, deliver isolation and quarantine techniques, and design vaccination strategies. The team conceptualized and implemented a national Non-Congregate Shelter strategy utilized in a majority of large cities in the United States. Members of the team continue to advise HUD, and state, local, and community based organizations on infection control for households experiencing homelessness throughout the United States.
Afghan Refugee Resettlement
In 2022, C-tau was selected by California to support housing Afghan refugees throughout the state.