The homeless crisis is also an environmental crisis

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Climate change poses a significant threat to everyone. Floods, wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters displace millions of people around the world every year. When natural disasters occur, vulnerable populations like  people of color, people living in poverty, and people living with mental illness  are disproportionately impacted and are often left without a place to live and they lack resources to get back on their feet. As the climate crisis continues to worsen, the gap between housed and unhoused will continue to widen.

According to research conducted by Community Solutions and Georgetown Environmental Law, organizations that examine the impact of climate change on the housing crisis, homelessness will become more common in the face of climate change. Climate change is one of the leading causes of global displacement, only second to conflict and violence, depending on the year in question. Millions are displaced yearly as a result of disasters: 32.6 million displacements were linked with disasters in 2022, more than displacements associated with conflict and violence. This includes 675,000 displacements within the United States alone. Current estimates are that one billion people could become climate refugees by 2050. 

In addition to worsening the houseless crisis, climate change could make being unhoused more dangerous. Spending significant time outdoors, without protection from the elements, and in increasingly extreme conditions poses a threat to the health and wellbeing of the unhoused. As the climate crisis continues, extreme heat, extreme cold, floods, unpredictable weather patterns, and poor air quality from wildfires  

So what can we do? Recognizing the unique vulnerabilities faced by people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in the context of climate change is crucial for developing policies, prevention-focused plans, and interventions. We can advocate and pressure our public leaders to invest in more housing, especially affordable housing. We can design climate resilience and response plans that incorporate homeless populations in collaboration with people with lived experience. Homelessness is a community issue that will require awareness, advocacy, and effort from all of us, particularly as the impending climate crisis looms.


Citations


https://community.solutions/research-posts/on-the-connection-between-climate-change-and-homelessness/#:~:text=Extreme%20weather%20events%20like%20wildfires,increases%20housing%20instability%20and%20homelessness.


https://www.law.georgetown.edu/environmental-law-review/blog/dual-hazards-of-homelessness-and-climate-change/


https://community.solutions/research-posts/learning-brief-the-intersection-of-climate-change-and-homelessness/

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