Latino homeowners and communities across the United States face escalating climate risks, including hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding. These hazards disproportionately impact Latino households due to geographic concentration of Latino home values in high-risk areas and systemic barriers to financial protection and recovery. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of how escalating climate risks threaten Latino homeownership and offers policy solutions to enhance resilience and long-term housing stability.

Why This Matters

Homeownership is a critical wealth-building tool, but climate risks are eroding Latino homeowners' financial security at disproportionate rates. Policymakers and practitioners need necessary data-driven insights to develop effective strategies that protect Latino homeowners.

Key Takeaways

Latino homeowners face a disproportionate exposure to climate risks, bearing higher home value losses and economic burdens across different hazard types. Hispanic homeowners living in communities with disaster risk face $3.1 billion dollars in annual estimated losses from damage to their homes. Key findings from this research highlight the significant disparities in climate risk exposure and its economic consequences:

• Latino home values are disproportionately located in high-risk areas:
  • 27.2% of Latino home values are in high-risk zones, compared to 19% of value among all homeowners.
  • 22.8% of Latino homeowners live in high-risk areas, exceeding the 16.1% share of total homeowners.
• Latino homeowners bear a higher share of home value losses across hazard types:
  • In low-to-moderate income (LMI) neighborhoods, Latino homeowners account for 12% of total home values but shoulder 16% of total property losses from climate events.
  • Hurricanes pose the greatest risk, with Latino homeowners overrepresented in high-risk areas and experiencing disproportionately higher home value losses.
  • Wildfires, particularly in California and Arizona, pose a growing threat to Latino homeowners in areas with moderate-to-high wildfire risk.
  • Riverine flooding disproportionately affects Latino homeowners in lower-value, high-risk neighborhoods, where loss shares exceed their home value proportion.
• Latino communities face high social vulnerability and low resilience, exacerbating climate risks:
  • In majority-Latino neighborhoods, 30% of communities are classified as highly socially vulnerable, compared to 20% of all US communities.
  • Latino households in disaster-prone areas often lack sufficient insurance coverage, financial resources, and infrastructure investments to prepare for and recover from disasters.

Policy Recommendations

To address the disproportionate impact of climate-related hazards on Latino homeowners and communities necessitates multipronged policy interventions. This report outlines several recommendations:

• Improve insurance accessibility and affordability
• Strengthen data used to assess climate risks
• Enhance climate resilience and reduce community vulnerability
• Improve financial assistance for home improvements
• Expand outreach and education
• Promote equitable and resilient community development
• Mitigate labor hour losses and support resilience in weather-exposed industries

How We Did It

This report uses a combination of national datasets, including FEMA’s National Risk Index (NRI) and the American Community Survey, to assess hazard exposure, social vulnerability, and economic impacts for Latino homeowners. The research includes a deep dive into six key markets—Houston, Phoenix, Orlando, Stockton, Chicago, and Puerto Rico—to analyze the localized effects of climate risks and identify community-specific policy solutions.