Published: May 2021

Climate change threatens vulnerable residents’ housing opportunities

Groups write to the Federal Housing Finance Agency with concerns that climate risk mitigation efforts could cause inadvertent harm to communities already vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

Eighteen organizations sent a letter in response to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) “request for information” on climate and natural risk management detailing their concerns about the disproportionate impact of climate change and natural disasters on borrowers and communities of color and low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The group letter provided recommendations for next steps in the FHFA’s work on mitigating climate risk and urged the agency to make sure climate risk mitigation efforts do not cause inadvertent harm to the communities that already are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and that face the most challenges in accessing and sustaining homeownership.

To download the letter, scroll down (Download PDF).

Lead Organization

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund

Other Organizations

Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) | California Low-Income Consumer Coalition | California Reinvestment Coalition | Center for Responsible Lending | Color of Change | Consumer Action | Consumer Federation of America | Future Nexus | MICAH- Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing | National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) | National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) | National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) | National Fair Housing Alliance | Public Citizen | Public Good Law Center | Public Law Center | Watsonville Law Center

More Information

Maya K Buchanan, et al., “Sea level rise and coastal flooding threaten affordable housing,” Dec. 1, 2020, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abb266

Nives Dolsak and Aseem Prakash, “Urban Heatwaves Are Worse for Low-Income Neighborhoods,” Forbes, Aug. 14, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakashdolsak/2020/08/14/urban-heatwaves-are-worse-for-low-income-neighborhoods/?sh=508c78319d50

Download PDF

Climate change threatens vulnerable residents’ housing opportunities   (coalition/2021.4.20-FHFA-Climate-RFI-Comment-Letter.pdf)