5. Conclusion
Buyouts remain complicated and difficult programs to implement, with a myriad of challenges to overcome. A program’s success is often influenced by existing issues within the community, trust between buyout coordinators and homeowners, and a range of context-specific factors. Furthermore, implementing a buyout invokes significant concerns about fairness and equity and requires answers to many difficult questions, such as who is eligible and who is not, and what happens to bought out properties afterwards? Buyouts are but one strategy in a suite of coastal adaptation options; addressing coastal flooding requires managers to seriously evaluate their context and work with their communities to develop appropriate, resilience-building strategies. Moreover, if decision makers do opt for a buyout, that buyout needs to be supported and enmeshed in a larger, more holistic development framework with better planning and real-estate policy. This research was conducted to understand how to increase the social license of a proactive buyout program. This study suggests that buyouts have higher social license where they are: 1) creative and context-specific; 2) where they facilitate meaningful public participation; 3) where they foster a more certain future; 4) where they provide a clear rationale for decision making, and 5) where they create co-benefits. These elements must be deliberately built into proactive buyout programs which foster an open, transparent and collaborative process that builds community resilience and provides co-benefits for the environment. It does not currently appear that the Municipality of Chatham-Kent is in a position to consider a buyout program for the 124 highly flood- and erosion-prone properties along Erie Shore Drive. Capacity issues, concerns over a buyout program’s political viability, a legal challenge, and a lack of financial support from the Provincial and Federal governments remain major barriers. Understandably, none of these elements are straightforward to overcome. Additional empirical research is needed to provide more specific recommendations on how to more successfully implement buyout programs.
Funding This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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