By Miriam Zuk, Ph.D.*, Idalmis Vaquero**, Zully Juarez, MURP.**, and Lin Chin*
*Ground Works Consulting | **Just Solutions
Ensuring the well-being of people, their homes, and the environment is increasingly important in the context of the climate crisis. The connections between housing and climate justice are vast1, and in these critical times, the climate and housing justice movement provides opportunities for lasting impact for frontline communities. This brief looks at the innovative practices at the intersection of climate and housing justice emerging from environmental justice (EJ) organizations and the needs on the ground to amplify this crucial work.
Over the last few years, significant investments have been made at the federal level to address climate change and improve infrastructure in the U.S. (e.g., IRA, 2022 IIJA, 2021). Although historic in their reach, the laws are insufficient to meet the climate justice and housing needs of the moment. Earlier this summer, Just Solutions released the first brief from the Housing and Climate Equity series that took a deep dive into two federally funded programs that directly benefit EJ communities, which are important but insufficient to meet the needs of housing and climate justice. It also highlights four innovative model policies from California, New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania at the intersection of housing and climate justice that are improving housing quality and reducing their climate footprint.
In this second brief, we embarked on a landscape scan and needs assessment by interviewing thirteen leaders from across the country. We document the breadth of work that EJ organizations are advancing at the intersection of housing and climate justice, from working in coalitions to advocate for specific policies and programs to monitoring, outreach, and engagement around implementation. This brief highlights many examples of this work across the following categories:
- Building decarbonization and healthy homes
- Accelerating energy transition and relieving energy burden
- Neighborhood-level decarbonization and resilience
While tremendous work is underway at the intersection of housing and climate justice, many challenges remain. This brief concludes with recommended investments in 1) technical assistance and research, 2) movement support, and 3) toolkits and popular education materials to unlock the potential of the work and ensure more healthy, stable, and resilient homes for EJ communities.
About Ground Works Consulting
Ground Works Consulting works at the intersection of community power-building and community development. We partner with communities to advance health equity, climate justice, and shared prosperity with a focus on housing justice and community development systems. We believe that communities can achieve more healthy and equitable futures through an honest reckoning with all forms of inequity, particularly structural racism. Operating between big vision and implementation, we work with a wide range of communities and leaders to transform aspirational ideas into positive community outcomes.