Following the Trump administration's funding and staffing reductions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, former employees are increasingly securing jobs in the private sector as “disaster consultants,” or contractors hired by states and cities to help with disaster recovery. Andrew Rumbach, a climate and communities expert at the Urban Institute, spoke with The Atlantic about the trend and how without federal civil-rights and fair-housing guardrails, consultants’ work might unintentionally skew toward some groups and away from others: “[Contractors] don’t have a public-good mission. They’re doing the work that they’re contracted for,” he said.

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