21-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
When Towns Rebuild From Disaster, Some Get Priced Out
The coastal community of Panama City, Fla., has largely recovered since Hurricane Michael ravaged the Florida Panhandle in 2018—but it isn't the same place. The downtown, once a sleepy district with run-down buildings and lawyers' offices, now bustles with boutiques and breweries. Much of the housing stock is fancier and pricier, and residents are generally wealthier.
More than 2,000 miles west, a similar dynamic has played out in the small hill town of Paradise, Calif., as it tries to come back from the Camp Fire that incinerated the region that same year. Many poorer residents have moved out, more-affluent newcomers have moved in and home prices have climbed.
