Shelter from the storm: The growing threats from climate change to housing in the United States

Abstract

Climate change and its related impacts are fast becoming the dominant force in the housing market. The fundamental role that housing plays in people's lives makes these effects particularly pernicious, often impacting employment, school attendance, undermining physical and mental health, disrupting social networks, and contributing to food insecurity. The complexity of addressing these issues is compounded by the cyclical and reciprocal relationships among these factors, with housing inequalities frequently lying at the core and climate change impacts percolating throughout. I introduce the framework of acute, secondary, and pre‐emptive/reactive impacts to help understand these mechanisms. To understand and contextualize these connections, I provide a brief overview racial segregation in the United States and related inequalities that place some individuals, groups, and communities at greater risk. Other key sources of housing instability in the United States that are often closely related to housing segregation include lack of affordable housing, growing income inequality, housing discrimination, evictions, and foreclosures, all of which contribute to unequal housing outcomes. These factors are explored using the temporal framework to discuss their connection to climate change, which is in and of itself a major force of housing instability.