How climate change impacts minority communities - National Mortgage News
Author
How climate change impacts minority communities
Though outlawed by the Fair Housing Act redlining
"[Climate change] is falling on communities that were already historically burdened by negative environmental impacts because our nation's public policies relegated families of color to neighborhoods that were more toxic than the neighborhoods that white communities were allowed to live in," she said. "So we see that climate impacts are now developing, and they are having a disproportionate impact on communities of color."
As temperatures rise, wildfires erupt and flooding events become more frequent, the burden on historically marginalized communities increases.
Bailey and NFHA are hopeful the Department of Housing and Urban Development passes the final iteration of its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule
"We've been pushing for the release of HUD's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing final rule, so that there could be the stick in place for insurance funds like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act being administered in a way that actually prioritizes the replacement, rebuilding and strengthening of infrastructure that serves communities of color," Bailey noted.
In an interview with National Mortgage News, Bailey shares her thoughts on how redlining has contributed to minorities being more susceptible to the negative effects of climate change and how initiatives by the federal government can have a big impact.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.