Pam Kazlauskas (00:06.321)
Three, two, one. Hello everyone and welcome to today's Tuesday tip. We're going to be talking today about some things to keep in mind as you develop emergency plans for your property. As we all know, we're heading into the hurricane and ice storm and various other fall and winter disaster seasons. So it's important to have a clear and concise emergency plan in place so that everyone knows what to do should the worst happen.

When it comes to HUD, HUD really has spent a great deal of money addressing disasters among its housing portfolio. In 2025 alone, HUD allocated approximately $12 billion to assist affordable housing in recovering from disaster damage. It was caused primarily by weather-driven events such as Hurricanes Milton and Helene, forest fires, severe storms, and other extreme weather like flooding.

It's important to remember that severe weather can hit anywhere. Depending on which part of the country you're in, you may experience some more than others, but there really are events that can hit anywhere. Flooding, fires, contamination, and power outages can really hit almost anywhere. And all properties should be prepared to respond to these and any other threats that could occur in your area.

Key elements of a disaster plan include things like making sure that it's site-specific. Don't just use a template disaster plan. You want to make sure that your plan references specific community resources, specific staff roles, specific systems at your property. Make sure that it's in writing, that it's easily accessible so everybody knows how to get their hands on it. Make sure that it has clear roles.

Asks and communication protocols. You want to make sure that you coordinate with local resources and services and that it has contact information for those services. And you want to make sure that it has a clear communication strategy. You really should have a designated media contact to make sure that any information coming from your property is accurate and consistent.

Pam Kazlauskas (02:28.803)
There should be a designated contact for the residents and families since you're likely to get a lot of questions and concerns from them. And again, make sure that the communication is consistent from all staff members. It gets very confusing and can be very stressful for people if they're getting one message from one person and one message from another person. And remember, in these kinds of situations,

Things can be very chaotic. So it's important to make sure that everybody gets the same information. And if information is changing, that staff communicate frequently to make sure that everybody's on the same page. Your first priority is always going to be to keep people safe. Make sure that both you and your residents know local evacuation routes, know where shelters are.

You need to have a clear plan for which building systems may need to be shut down in an emergency. Things like generators and other systems may become dangerous if they're not shut down at certain points. Make sure you are coordinating any evacuation plans with local authorities. And ensure that local EMS is aware of any residents that may be particularly vulnerable.

You want to be careful of fair housing concerns with this. It can be risky if you disclose somebody else's limitations because then you're assuming things. But it's a good idea to develop a way that residents can personally disclose to EMS any assistance they may need during an emergency.

The second priority after you've assured that everybody is safe is minimizing losses in the building in terms of capital concerns or building mechanisms. Know the steps to minimize internal risk to property and systems. Know things like how to build fire breaks if those are necessary, how to get sandbags if you need to prevent flooding.

Pam Kazlauskas (04:34.627)
Securing outdoor furniture and vehicles in the event of a tornado or other wind event, and what systems need to be shut down during an emergency. Make sure that you are advising residents of what they should and shouldn't do during these situations. And it can change based on local concerns and what your area representatives, town officials, EMS want you to do during an emergency.

Some other considerations, in addition to just some general good practices with emergencies, your company may have specific disaster plans and guidelines. And you're going to need to make sure that you coordinate with those systems to make sure that you're following both good practices and company requirements. Include any local best practices from your town officials and EMS.

Make sure you know what their priorities are. It's a good idea to speak with them to discuss, you know, what kind of mechanisms they have in place to deal with vulnerable populations. For instance, do you need to make sure that they have your property flagged as a senior building that may raise the priority in a power outage or disaster? Consider other types of disasters or negative situations when you're planning.

Consider crimes, consider other emergency situations that may not be weather related, but that you should have a consistent plan to deal with. Practice plans as needed. Some fire departments like you to run fire drills, some do not, so you're going to guide off of them. But one of the things you want to make sure is that your residents are clearly informed of what those policies are.

Some people will put a magnet on the back of the door or on the refrigerator. Different companies have different ways of making sure that this is done. You could have an annual safety meeting where you go through things. That's really up to your company and your building in terms of what works best for you. But make sure that people are aware of what they should do. And that includes your staff. Your staff should be regularly trained on how to respond to an emergency.

Pam Kazlauskas (07:00.113)
And most importantly, be aware of how to pivot if needed. If you have a plan A, make sure there's a plan B in case something goes wrong. Disasters are very fluid situations. Things can change, resources can change. So make sure that people are prepared to adapt as needed.

Pam Kazlauskas (07:22.945)
One of the most important things when you're developing an emergency plan is to have good resources for how to develop one. In addition to any HUD guidance and your company's guidance, these are some other resources that you can look to. There's the ready.gov site, which has information both for you and that you can use to hand out to your residents. The Red Cross also has information that's helpful for you as a property manager, but also for your residents.

And then the HUD Multifamily Disaster Preparedness Template can be found in the HUD Exchange. You can use the link that's on the screen now, or you can just go to the HUD Exchange and look for disaster resources, and that should bring you to the page that need. We would love to hear from you about what you would like to hear next on Tuesday tips. And that's going to do it for this week. We will see you again on the next one.