Sara McTarnaghan is a principal research associate in the Housing and Communities Division at the Urban Institute and colead for the Climate and Communities practice area.

Her research focuses on the intersection of climate resilience and affordable housing, as well as local and regional approaches to equitable resilience planning and disaster recovery. She examines the connections between the built and natural environments, public policy, and social and economic outcomes, especially for people and communities disproportionately affected by the increasing frequency and severity of climate impacts.

McTarnaghan leads work funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on postdisaster outcomes among renters and by the National Academies of Sciences on planning for the health impacts of climate change in overburdened Gulf Coast communities. She recently oversaw the global outcome evaluation of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities network, which tracked changes in municipal governance and planning. McTarnaghan is skilled in spatial and qualitative research methods and program evaluation. She has extensive experience conducting interviews and focus groups in both English and Spanish. She is a regular resource to the media on topics related to climate adaptation and disasters.

Before joining Urban, McTarnaghan researched affordable housing preservation in Austin, Texas, and worked internationally at the nonprofit TECHO on fundraising and program development. She earned a BA from the George Washington University and an MS in community and regional planning and an MA in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin.