Green building leader Krista Egger on the landmark $2 billion award to the Enterprise co-led coalition Power Forward Communities and how it will help drive efforts to create healthier, more sustainable homes and communities.

While the world watches and calls for swift and immediate action to address climate change, environmental justice proponents warn that not all policies are created equal, and that some may serve to exacerbate existing inequities, including by race and ethnicity. While many homeowners can invest in efficiency upgrades, electric technologies, and renewable energy generation, renters—particularly low-income and BIPOC renters—rarely have the same options. A careful approach to decarbonization must be considered to avoid exacerbating the nation’s affordable housing crisis.

Congress must act so that communities hit by disaster can receive funding more quickly and equitably, Enterprise’s CEO and President Shaun Donovan testified before Congress. Donovan also stressed that communities need funding to be better prepared for disasters, noting that mitigation measures can more than pay for themselves and can save an average of $6 in future disaster recovery costs for every dollar spent.

As Enterprise’s vice president and market leader for New York, Baaba Halm says she never forgets the people she advocated for each day in her first job at Covenant House, even as she now focuses on broad policy changes that aim to create more affordable homes for millions of New Yorkers.

Affordable housing developers, owners, and operators in the Rocky Mountain region of the country area face challenges ranging from the impact of drought on water supply, to the need for repairs due to high winds and other extreme weather conditions. Over the course of eight weeks this fall, a cohort of 19 affordable housing owners and operators participated in the Rocky Mountain Resilience Academy.

As climate change intensifies, severe flood events have become more commonplace across the entire U.S. Extreme flooding disproportionately impacts low-income communities and people of color because they often live in areas that are more prone to flooding, in housing stock not well suited to weather such events, and lack adequate disaster plans as well as the financial means to evacuate and/or temporarily relocate.

In the wake of a natural disaster, low-income and other systemically marginalized residents often struggle to fully recover and access tools to build resilience against future catastrophes. Affected communities can include seniors, renters, people with limited English proficiency, people with disabilities, residents of manufactured housing, and people experiencing homelessness. Supporting equitable recovery is the focus of a new research report and set of guides developed by Enterprise as part of both a cooperative agreement and a technical assistance grant awarded by HUD.