Some landlords even forced out tenants to instead rent to fire refugees, who could pay more because FEMA was covering the rent — and dramatically overpaying, ProPublica and the Honolulu Civil Beat reported.

Natural disasters that destroy homes often lead to increased rents. Researchers with the Brookings Institute surveyed rental trends in major markets following natural disasters and attributed increases of between 4 percent and 6 percent directly to the disasters — an effect that “never fully went away,” one of the authors wrote. Other research found permanent rent increases too. Evictions also tend to rise.