iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Jesse M. Keenan @jessemkeenan.com · 09/12/2025

See my commentary @washingtonpost.com in re changing patterns for climate risk "information" among consumers. The seasonal dimension does seem important, if it holds up statistically. It is nice to see Redfin engaged. www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

washingtonpost.com

Hurricanes and wildfires influence homebuyers, if only for a minute

Interest in climate risk surges after disasters, according to the real estate platform Redfin, but soon diminishes.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

In addition to all of the other benefits already reported about NYC congestion pricing, "In the first six months of the program, air pollution – in the form of particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller – dropped by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ)" news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...

news.cornell.edu

Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle

Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

The report explores strategies that states, municipalities, philanthropies, and community-based organizations can use to expand solar opportunity, alleviate high energy cost burdens, and improve residents’ quality of life.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

In Houston, neighborhoods with the greatest potential for solar benefit are primarily clustered in eastern and northeastern parts of the city.

Screenshot of table available on report page showing neighborhoods in housing with the most potential for solar opportunity

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

In #Chicago they found 9,088 owner-occupied, single-family properties were in high-potential areas, with roughly half of those properties ready for solar now and another 1,801 properties ready for solar with roof repairs.

Screenshot of map report landing page that shows chicago neighborhoods with the highest potential

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

The team piloted the methodology in Chicago, Illinois, and Houston, Texas—two large cities with distinct energy and regulatory contexts, climate and weather risks, and housing stocks.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

2) assess the solar readiness of these neighborhoods by quantifying the number of residences ready for solar installation now and residences that would require roof upgrades first.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

1) identifying neighborhoods with high energy burdens, low income levels, and high shares of Black and Latina/o homeowners that would most benefit from solar installations

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

The Solar Opportunity Index is a methodology to help local actors target programs and maximize climate and economic co-benefits, through 2 steps:

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

As more communities are wrestling with energy affordability, new research from colleagues Anne Junod, @oriyacohen.bsky.social and Kameron Lloyd helps identify where solar investments reduce energy burdens www.urban.org/research/pub...

urban.org

Where Can Solar Investments Reduce Energy Burdens?

Rooftop solar offers households an opportunity to bring down energy costs and improve quality of life, but not all communities are well-positioned to act on …

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

What other state and local examples are worth lifting up for resilience and efficiency wins?

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Cross-sector partnership, robust incentives, and clear communication made it possible, while protecting flexibility and choice for those rebuilding

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

70% of eligible households have participated in the voluntary program to date

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

New research from my colleagues @andrewrumbach.bsky.social and Kameron Lloyd explores *how* to rebuild with attention to energy efficiency, resilience and affordability, by looking closely at the Rebuilding Better program following the devastating Marshall Fire in 2021 www.urban.org/research/pub...

urban.org

Rebuilding Better after the Marshall Fire

This case study describes the Rebuilding Better program and key lessons learned by recovery officials about its design and implementation.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Appreciate y'all sharing with your networks, unfortunately due to capacity I’m unable to respond to individual questions about the position.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

📌 Learn more about our ongoing initiatives : Urban Institute Climate and Communities program www.urban.org/expertise/cl...

urban.org

Climate Change, Disasters and Community Resilience | Urban Institute

Social and Economic Policy Research

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Ideal candidates are: - Strong quantitative and/or qualitative research and writing skills - Curious about policy and passionate about climate and environmental justice - Looking for a collaborative, mission-driven environment - Willing to relocate to Washington, DC (hybrid)

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

What you’ll work on: - Innovative projects that help communities across the U.S. prepare for and recover from climate impacts - Research that informs local, state, and federal policy decisions

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

This role is perfect for an impact-oriented, early career professional interested in contributing to policy research, program evaluations, and technical assistance focused on #climate,#disasters, and #communityresilience.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Climate injustice: “…in the aftermath of extreme weather events, lower-income neighbourhoods are less likely to rebuild and do not return to their pre-disaster state, whereas higher-income areas rebuild and tend to improve compared with their pre-disaster state…”

nature.com

Built environment disparities are amplified during extreme weather recovery - Nature

Higher-income neighbourhoods rebuild and improve after disasters while lower-income areas do not return to pre-disaster conditions.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Susan Crawford @scrawford.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Zillow’s climate score rollback is a wake-up call: build open, future‑conditions federal flood maps -- gold‑standard, trustworthy data for building codes, mortgages, and our future. Column today: open.substack.com/pub/susanpcr...

open.substack.com

Zillow’s climate risk reversal looks like a setback. It’s really a wake‑up call.

When private models sow confusion, it’s a flashing warning sign that Washington needs to fix federal flood maps,

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Andrew Rumbach @andrewrumbach.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Interesting and some similar findings as our recent surveys in Colorado. In the US context, particularly troubling, given the attack on institutional emergency management.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 14/08/2025

Research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows that federal government's sweep of homelessness in DC & other cities is a fool's errand. Criminalization & forced relocation: —Are an ineffective deterrent —Disrupt resources access —Prolong homelessness —Cost a lot of $ What solves homelessness? Housing.

urban.org

The National Guard Won’t End Homelessness. Housing Resources Can.

Despite a nationwide trend toward criminalizing people experiencing homelessness, decades of research show that housing resources and other supports remain the best solution to helping people exit hom...

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

and the evolution of hazard mitigation funding.

Bar chart showing FEMA hazard mitigation grants to gulf coast states since 2005.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

to the role of #FEMA, #HUD, and #SBA in supporting recovery

Line chart showing Disaster Resources from HUD and the SBA Delivered an Additional $86 Billion to gulf coast states between 2005 adn 2022

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

to exploring how costs will double by 2050 due to climate change

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

to the confluence of social vulnerability and property losses

Map showing counties with high social vulnerability and high per capita property damage. Data available for download.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

All the data 📊 are available for download and we hope it can be an easy resource for journalists, advocates, and policymakers trying to make sense of what proposed changes to #FEMA and federal disaster recovery support might mean for their communities.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Mitchell Thorson @mitchellthorson.com · 13/08/2025

Excited to share this new piece from @urbaninstitute.bsky.social @wcurrangroome.bsky.social @andrewrumbach.bsky.social @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social and team that gives an excellent data-driven overview of the last 20 years of natural disasters and federal spending in Gulf Coast states. Lots of 📊!

A county-level map of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida showing the number of major natural disasters since Katrina. The text reads:

Every County in the Gulf Coast Has Suffered at Least 3 Major Disasters since Katrina, and Many Have Experienced 10 or More

Major disaster declarations by county, 2005–24

Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency, “OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2”, accessed July 18, 2025, https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/disaster-declarations-summaries-v2.

Notes: Only major disaster declarations (DR) for natural hazard events are included in this analysis.

A time-series chart that shows the cumulative disaster-related property damage from 1992-2023 in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. There are annotations that show that sharp increases in damage align with well-known storms like Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, and Hurricane Ian.

The text reads:
Disaster Damages Continue to Rise in the Gulf Coast Twenty Years after Katrina

Cumulative disaster-related property damage, 1992–2023 ($)

Source: Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Arizona State University, 2025, “Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States, Version 23.0,” accessed July 14, 2025.

Notes: All dollar amounts are in 2024 dollars. All per capita figures are calculated based on 2023 population estimates.

A time-based stacked column chart that shows the amount of FEMA pre-disaster hazard mitigation assistance funcing by program from 2005-2024, broken out into the following programs: SRL, RFC, FMA, PDM, BRIC, LPDM. The amount of funding trends upwards over time, with large totals over $800 million in 2022 and 23.

The text reads:
FEMA Has Granted Nearly $10 Billion for Hazard Mitigation, Mostly in Coastal Counties

FEMA pre-disaster hazard mitigation assistance funding by program, 2005–24 ($)

Source: FEMA, “OpenFEMA Dataset: Hazard Mitigation Assistance Projects – v4”, accessed July 20, 2025, https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/hazard-mitigation-assistance-projects-v4.

Notes: BRIC = Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities; FEMA = Federal Emergency Management Agency; FMA = Flood Mitigation Assistance; LPDM = Legislative Pre-Disaster Mitigation program; PDM = Pre-Disaster Mitgation grant program; RFC = Repetitive Flood Claims program; SRL = Severe Repetitive Loss grant program. All dollar amounts are in 2024 dollars. All per capita figures are calculated based on 2023 population estimates. Statewide and other multicounty projects’ funding amounts were attributed to the county level proportionate to county populations.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

So often research in our field tells us how the policy *did* but not how it came to be. Super excited to dig into to the findings from my colleagues @yonahfreemark.com, Annie Rosenow, and Lydia Lo. Similar research in the hazard mitigation/climate resilience space desperately needed.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Andrew Rumbach @andrewrumbach.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Whether we call it 'reforming' or 'eliminating' FEMA, the Trump Administration intends to shrink the role of the federal government in disaster management. Do states have the fiscal capacity to take on additional responsibilities? New analysis and state-by-state data: www.urban.org/urban-wire/t...

urban.org

The Trump Administration Wants to Shrink the Federal Government’s Role in Disaster Management. Do States Have the Fiscal Capacity to Weather the Storm?

Taking on more disaster management responsibilities would be toughest for states at high risk of disasters with low fiscal capacity, such as Louisiana and North Carolina.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Sarah Labowitz @sarahlabo.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

#2 The administration hasn’t approved a single request for Hazard Mitigation since 2/17/25. 31 requests are either denied or pending.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Good news stories can feel few and far between, so it was pleasure to the amplify the message and share the evidence that social housing is a climate solution via @npr.org's @juliaradio.bsky.social Climate Solutions Week Sunday Story about Vienna's Green Social Housing. www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...

npr.org

Could this city be the model for how to tackle the housing crisis and climate change?

Vienna has a way to make affordable housing and combat climate change all at the same time. Now U.S. cities want in, and they're building their own green housing.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Updated all-time costliest National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) events on record. Note: Helene now sits at #4 ($6.18B), though nearly all of those payouts have come in Florida ($5.8B). North Carolina only at ~$0.2B. Most Americans living inland from the coast have no flood insurance coverage.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Zoë Schlanger @zoeschlanger.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Many close watchers of FEMA do think the agency needs a dramatic shake-up and that states should be responsible for more of the financial burden of catastrophe. This, however, is not what they meant. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

theatlantic.com

Last Call at the Disaster Department

Trump has signaled an end date for FEMA.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

yessenia funes @yessfun.com · 29/05/2025

this week's newsletter is out. it's all about trump's spending bill and how cuts to healthcare threaten the health of Americans as climate disasters make us sicker www.possibilities.news/trump-spendi...

possibilities.news

An American Tragedy

The president wants to pass a spending bill that threatens health coverage Americans desperately need in a climate-ravaged world.

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Sara McTarnaghan @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

This story illustrates post-fire moves with recent change of address data, but also relies heavily on first hand accounts from renters and homeowners alike. Appreciate the deep dive on the very human-angle of navigating loss and new beginnings

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Dana Drugmand @danad1012.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Great reporting from HEATED on Hawaii's first-in-the-nation "green fee" on tourists to help fund climate resiliency efforts heated.world/p/the-realit...

heated.world

The reality of Hawaii's tourist climate tax

A .75% tax will not destroy Hawaii's economy. But unchecked climate change will.

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Reposted by Sara McTarnaghan

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

News — David Richardson, Assistant Secretary for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, has been named the new Senior Official at FEMA.

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