Hurricane Season Prep: A Checklist for Housing Providers
Every year around this time, the forecast lands and the temptation is the same: read the headline, decide whether it's a "bad year" or a "quiet year," and plan accordingly. This year the headline reads below-normal. NOAA's May outlook put the odds at roughly 55% for a below-normal Atlantic season, with 8 to 14 named storms expected. This outlook forecasted fewer than the long-term average of 14, largely because a developing El Niño tends to suppress Atlantic storm formation.
Here's the problem with letting that headline set your prep: a seasonal outlook is not a landfall forecast. It tells you how many storms are likely to form across the entire basin. It tells you nothing about whether one of them lands on your property. Hurricane’s are nothing if not unpredictable, we see this year-to-year. Some years are anticipated to be quiet and some years multiple large-scale hurricane’s are anticipated. But if anything is predictable it is the unpredictability of those forecasts. 1992 was a quiet year by every measure, and it produced Hurricane Andrew.
For those of us managing affordable and rural housing, "prepare anyway" isn't just good personal advice. It's an operational and compliance obligation to the residents who depend on us. The families in a Section 515 or Section 8 property often have the fewest resources to evacuate, rebuild, or absorb a disruption. Our preparation is theirs.
So rather than react to the forecast, use it as your annual cue to run the checklist. Here's what that looks like before a storm is ever named.
1. Get your resident communication current — before you need it
The single most valuable thing you can do in June is confirm you can actually reach every household when a warning is issued. That means:
Verifying current phone numbers, emails, and emergency contacts for every unit
Confirming your contact method works for residents who don't use email or smartphones
Identifying households that will need extra help evacuating. Specifically residents with disabilities, mobility limitations, medical equipment, or no vehicle
Making sure critical notices are available in the languages your residents actually speak
A contact list you assembled at move-in and never touched is not an emergency plan. Refresh it now, while there's no pressure.
2. Protect the records you're required to keep
A flooded leasing office can set a property back for months, not just physically, but in compliance terms. Tenant files, income certifications, RD or HUD documentation, insurance policies, and vendor contracts all need to survive the storm.
Back up critical records to secure cloud storage, not just a local drive
Keep a physical copy of essentials (insurance policies, emergency contacts, key vendor numbers) somewhere waterproof and portable
Photograph or video the property's current condition now, so you have a clear "before" record for any post-storm insurance or disaster claim
That last point matters more than people expect. The time to document that the roof was intact is before the wind takes it.
3. Know your reporting obligations before the water rises
Different programs carry different post-disaster expectations, and the middle of a crisis is the worst time to learn them. Before the season is active, confirm:
What your lender, RD servicing office, or HUD field office expects in the event of property damage
Your insurance carrier's claim process and documentation requirements
Whether your property sits in a designated flood zone and what that triggers
Which disaster-relief and recovery funding channels exist for affordable housing, and what makes a property eligible
Knowing where relief tends to flow, and what paperwork unlocks it, can mean the difference between a fast recovery and a stalled one.
4. Walk the physical property with fresh eyes
Some of the highest-return preparation is the least glamorous:
Clear drains, gutters, and retention areas so stormwater has somewhere to go
Identify and secure or store anything that becomes a projectile in high wind. Signage, furniture, loose materials, dumpster lids are just a few examples
Check that emergency lighting, generators, and any backup systems actually run
Confirm your evacuation routes and any on-site shelter areas are clearly marked and unobstructed
5. Write down who does what
When a storm is 48 hours out, no one should be guessing about responsibilities. A simple one-page plan answering these questions is worth more than a binder no one reads:
Who issues resident notifications, and through what channel?
Who secures the physical property, and in what order?
Who is the point of contact for the lender, insurer, and emergency management?
Where do staff and residents get information if the office loses power?
The takeaway
A below-normal forecast is genuinely good news. It is not a reason to relax your preparation, it's a reason to do it calmly, on your own schedule, before the tropics get busy. The properties that weather a storm well are almost never the ones that scrambled when the warning came. They're the ones that treated a quiet June and July as the time to get ready.
Run the checklist now. Your residents are counting on it.
Florida CARH members can find additional preparedness resources at Ready.gov/hurricanes and the National Hurricane Center at hurricanes.gov. For questions about program-specific disaster reporting, contact your RD servicing office or HUD field office directly.
Sources
NOAA, "NOAA predicts below-normal 2026 Atlantic hurricane season" (May 21, 2026) — seasonal outlook, storm-count ranges, El Niño context, and the "it only takes one storm" statement from NWS Director Ken Graham. https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-predicts-below-normal-2026-atlantic-hurricane-season
NOAA Climate Prediction Center, "2026 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook" — official outlook and note that the forecast is not a landfall forecast. https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane2026/May/hurricane.shtml
NOAA National Hurricane Center — hurricane preparedness and real-time tropical outlooks. https://www.hurricanes.gov
Ready.gov, "Hurricanes" — resident and provider preparedness guidance. https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes