Climate Change as a Housing Crisis 'Threat Multiplier'

Jared Brey shares news of a recent report from the Center for American Progress, a "left-leaning D.C. think tank with close ties to the Democratic Party," that connects extreme weather caused by climate change to the nation's deepening housing affordability crisis.

The report, "A Perfect Storm: Extreme Weather as an Affordable Housing Crisis Multiplier," says efforts to address the impacts fo extreme weather events "have thus far failed to consider the threat multiplier effect that more extreme weather and scarce supply of affordable housing has on frontline communities."

As noted by Brey, the report also includes recommendations for federal, state, and local policymakers to "build strong, healthy, fair, accessible, and affordable communities that are resilient to future climate change impacts," in the report's words. Those recommendations include Congress acting to "direct HUD and FEMA to coordinate evacuation efforts and housing assistance in the wake of national disasters in racially equitable ways and in compliance with the Fair Housing Act…."