How the Climate Crisis Impacts People Who Are Unhoused

In Minneapolis, MN, licensed clinical social workers, like Andrea Hansen-Miller, work in one of the city’s public libraries. By handing out transit passes and having granola bars and laundry detergent pods on hand, Hansen-Miller gets unhoused people from around the city through the library’s doors.

As Hansen-Miller told The New Yorker, “It gets them in here….Then I can ask, ‘Where are you staying at night?’” Inside the library, she does what she can to help people, from listening to and validating their struggles to finding them affordable housing—and much in between.

But libraries, which are often overstretched and fighting to maintain funding, can’t do everything that’s needed to address homelessness, especially as the climate crisis worsens already difficult situations.

Facing More Danger

As of December 2022, almost 1.9 million US households had been displaced within just the previous year alone due to a natural disaster, according to data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. One-third of those people were renters, who are more likely than homeowners to be displaced for longer periods of time. As the report states, “Only 56 percent of renter households returned home in less than a month compared to 71 percent of homeowner households. Nearly one in four renter households never returned home compared to one in 10 homeowner households.”

Regardless of renting or owning, BIPOC households were more likely to be displaced than White households, and low-income households were three times as likely to be displaced as well. In 2023, an estimated 2.5 million Americans were forced from their homes due to disasters. That’s in addition to the more than 580,000 people who already experience homelessness on any given night across the United States, according to the US Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Communities around the country are struggling to afford the staggering costs and staffing needs of emergency shelters.

Because unhoused people spend long periods of time outdoors, it’s harder for them to receive public health alerts about upcoming weather events. People may not have consistent access to phones, TV, or internet that provide life-saving weather alerts and urgent instructions.

In general, surviving the impacts of climate disasters—from wildfires and poor air quality to flooding, severe storms, and extreme temperatures—are harder for those without stable shelter. People without housing face increased danger in the event of a disaster as well as in the aftermath, when access to potable water may be difficult, power lines may be down, and air may be unsafe.

Climate Threats to Housing

At the same time, communities around the country are struggling to afford the staggering costs and staffing needs of emergency shelters. As a 2016 fact sheet from the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives notes, the “cost of an emergency shelter bed funded by HUD’s Emergency Shelter Grants program is approximately $8,067 more than the average annual cost of a federal housing subsidy.”

Of course, it’s more than just the direct impact of weathering a natural disaster that can thrust people into homelessness. Climate change is poised to wipe out nearly $1.5 trillion in US home values by 2055 according to a recent report by First Street Technology, a research firm that studies climate threats to housing. More houses are becoming unhabitable, more land unlivable.

In the meantime, the cost of maintaining ownership and insurance for homes across the nation is rising. An increase in the risks posed by escalating weather events is partly responsible for a 33.8 percent increase in insurance rates that took place between 2018 and 2023, according to CNBC. The S&P Global Market Intelligence’s RateWatch app found that 2023 alone accounted for 11.3 percent of that rise.

Then there’s also the squeeze on rental availability to contend with. Just three days after the deadly Los Angeles wildfires destroyed Ryan and Stephanie Blank’s home in January, The Washington Post reported, the couple stood in line for a rental home showing. The home came with a monthly rent advertised at $7,200—more than double their mortgage.

They didn’t get the house.

Thinking Beyond Shelters

What can nonprofit organizations and other groups do to help?

Before the second Trump administration took hold, a cadre of federal funding sources could be accessed, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance Program; the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Recovery Resources to Provide Housing and Services to Persons Experiencing Homelessness; and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Grants, Funding and Technical Assistance. These federal funding sources are now in limbo or gone entirely.

One thing organizations can do is think beyond shelters. Costanza Rampini is an associate professor at San Jose State University who studies the impact of climate change and solutions. She and her research team were joined by researchers from the University of California, Davis to conduct surveys of people who are unhoused and live by urban streams in parts of the Bay Area.

“No one living here speaks well of shelters, viewing them as a last resort.”

“There are movements to move people out of encampments and out of creeks,” Rampini told the UC Davis news and media relations team. “What can we provide so folks actually choose these other services rather than spending millions of dollars on things people don’t really want?”

The team of researchers interviewed more than 240 people from 28 encampments, which revealed that participants value proximity to nature, aren’t interested in abandoning their pets, and don’t want to live under the rules and regulations imposed by shelters.

“No one living here speaks well of shelters, viewing them as a last resort. Many think they are too restrictive with respect to pets, guests, curfews, personal relationships, and belongings,” wrote Kat Kerlin, communications strategist at UC Davis, in the report.

Continuing to promote and create access to permanent housing and uncovering creative alternatives to shelters is one thing that can be done, as is finding ways to care for the beloved pets of unhoused people as they access the resources available to them.

Working to create or promote awareness and information assistance systems is certainly a place where nonprofits can step in.

Another way to help, according to Yale Climate Connections, is by offering public communication services.

Kristie Ebi, a researcher who studies the health risks of climate change at the University of Washington, told Yale Climate Connections in 2024 that the top thing she would like to see all local governments do is develop a heat-wave early warning and response plan. For example, in Philadelphia, there’s the Heatline, a special phone number that residents can call for information about health concerns or questions related to heat.

Working to create or promote awareness and information assistance systems is certainly a place where nonprofits can step in. This helps bridge the communication gap for those living without stable housing.

Local Help

Finally, nonprofits can provide the basics and make it local. The “Exposure” subsection of the 2022 report Climate Change and Homelessness: A global response framework from Canada’s Homeless Hub notes that service and systems providers and supporters can help design coordinated disaster responses alongside first responders for when disasters strike.

“Trainings and strategies should be tailored to [the] local population. Providing populations experiencing homelessness with access to water, supplies, and culturally appropriate education about weather-related dangers, warning signs, and steps to be taken,” the report reads. “Local, community-based organisations and networks need to be engaged so that local knowledge is incorporated (7).”

Even if providing direct services to people who are unhoused or directly responding to climate disasters is outside your wheelhouse, it doesn’t mean a nonprofit or group has nothing to offer. Your organization can partner with local providers to ensure that whichever population you serve is represented in your community’s disaster preparedness and response efforts.

For More on This Topic:

Deaths from Climate Change are Poverty Deaths

The Criminalization of Homelessness 

What Do Public Libraries Have to Do with Climate Justice?