Lessons from Katrina: How Funders Can Help Communities Get “Climate Mobility” Right  

Twenty years ago, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the surrounding area. That disaster made the reality of climate change visible, and it revealed how disasters expose and amplify existing inequities. It also revealed how critical it is that we build proper local infrastructure for those who choose to return to their homes after temporary displacement, as well as for those who decide to permanently relocate to new communities — neither existed for people displaced by Katrina, and not enough of it exists today.  

Preparing for “climate-related mobility,” in other words the movement of people due to the forces of climate change, is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Over the last three years alone, more than 16 million Americans were displaced by climate disasters. That’s more than six times the number displaced by the Dust Bowl (about 2.5 million). The number of disaster displaced individuals in 2024 alone was 11 million, the highest single-year total of disaster-displaced residents ever recorded for any country.   

Despite the urgent and rapidly accelerating need, most communities in the U.S. are still not fully prepared to support displaced populations. Nevertheless, some communities are beginning to take steps to become more resilient, equitable, and welcoming to the displaced. We must support these early adopters and find ways to accelerate the building of strong and equitable “climate mobility infrastructure.” This infrastructure, which includes everything from passing inclusive policies that facilitate the integration of newcomers to the construction of affordable housing, will be essential for avoiding future tragedies, and for ensuring that the tens of millions of future displaced Americans can succeed and thrive.   

Hard Lessons From Where We Fell Short in Responding to Katrina 

When Hurricane Katrina hit, some cities, like New Orleans, that were in the eye of the storm, were not sufficiently prepared to support the hundreds of thousands of displaced residents who tried to return to their homes after the storm, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized residents.  

No city could have been fully prepared for such a disaster scenario, and it should be noted that much of the human disaster was a result of insufficient state and federal responses. Nevertheless, although New Orleans had an emergency response plan for hurricanes, it did not have a plan for “equitable recovery” for its residents. This lack of an equitable recovery plan, compounded by the insufficient state and federal government support, meant that tens of thousands of the most marginalized residents fell through the cracks. As a result, by 2008 half of the working poor, elderly, and disabled who had lived in New Orleans before Katrina had given up on returning permanently. Severe shortages of affordable housing and demolition of public housing made return unfeasible. Most of those individuals and families never returned to the city.  

There were also cities such as Baton Rouge, Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta, that were not prepared to welcome tens of thousands of “Katrina refugees,” as they became known. This lack of preparation resulted in a huge lost opportunity for these cities as well as the displaced people themselves, who did not have the support needed to rebuild their lives.  

This lack of local preparedness — in areas such as housing, social services, cultural competency, and inclusion — was a critical factor in the long-term negative outcomes experienced by many displaced individuals. For example, a 2009 Rice University study reported on about 200,000 evacuees who relocated to Houston. More than 25 percent reported their health had worsened. Nearly 60 percent experienced symptoms like nervousness, hopelessness, or panic. Many faced major access barriers to physical and mental healthcare due to loss of jobs and insurance.   

And the impact went much further than Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia. Katrina prompted one of the most widespread internal displacements in US history. Approximately 1.5 million people from across the Gulf Coast region — including Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama — were displaced. Within two weeks of Hurricane Katrina hitting, approximately 75 percent of evacuees remained within 250 miles of their homes. Soon after, evacuees were registered in all 50 states.   

These communities nationwide — similar to the receiving communities mentioned above — did not have plans to welcome the people who were displaced. As a result, the outcomes for Katrina refugees nationwide, particularly those with less means, was on the whole poor. For example, a 2008 Bureau of Labor Statistics paper found that evacuees who did not return to their pre-Katrina homes had lower employment rates and higher unemployment compared to both returnees and residents in unaffected areas. 

Communities are Leading the Way in Building Readiness, and are Ready for Funder Support  

What would it look like to take the lessons of displacement from Hurricane Katrina to heart? There is a clear opportunity for funders — both those whose work focuses on climate resilience and local, place-based funders invested in building strong, healthy communities — to contribute to a more displacement-ready, climate resilient nation.  

While there is still a long way to go, a growing number of towns and cities have learned the lessons of Katrina and are helping chart a new course forward for climate disaster and recovery.  

One of those cities is New Orleans itself. In the years since Katrina, New Orleans has created several plans and systems — in consultation with the community — to improve its ability to equitably recover from disasters.  

Additionally, people who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina are reclaiming and renaming their experience. In New Orleans this week, during a week of commemoration, Taproot Earth is leading the Monarch Forum, bringing together people impacted by Katrina and those moving in solidarity to share testimony, lessons, and visions for a future, and to recognize that their experience is part of a global experience of people displaced by climate change. 

Another place that is charting a new path forward for climate disaster and recovery is Paradise, California, which has been implementing a community-driven, comprehensive recovery plan in the wake of the devastating 2018 Camp Fire. Although both New Orleans and Paradise still have more progress to make in their efforts, they should still be applauded for their significant progress.  

There are also those towns and cities preparing to welcome the displaced. For example, Cincinnati is in a region that is expected to experience less devastating climate change impacts, and the city, in collaboration with regional backbone organization Green Umbrella and HDR, is in the process of incorporating climate mobility strategies into a regional climate action plan. This summer they conducted extensive community engagement and education with an emphasis on equity, affordable housing, welcoming, and economic development. This fall, Cincinnati will be part of a learning cohort — led by ICLEI-USA — of 26 cities and counties interested in planning intentionally for climate displacement. 

As we alluded to above, for a community to be prepared to welcome the climate displaced, it needs to have a plan to build both “soft infrastructure,” such as inclusive policies and a welcoming culture, but it also needs to build “hard infrastructure,” like expanded water and sewage systems to accommodate a growing population. We are already seeing some exciting examples of soft infrastructure being created in receiving communities. For example, several community development organizations have come together to develop a “Sista Cities” agreement to support a community-level partnership between New Orleans and Detroit, as well as with Memphis, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago. The concept behind the sista cities partnership is to forge bonds between cities that are climate threatened and cities that may fare better as the climate changes, recognizing that all places are impacted in some way by climate change and working on shared solutions.  

The organizations leading this work imagine a future where climate-displaced people can be welcomed, treated with dignity, and feel a sense of belonging and contribution in their new homes, when they are forced to move.  

The Time to Invest is Now 

We have an opportunity now to invest in the resilience of communities so that people have the ability to remain in place, or return after disasters, to the place they live and love. There are many communities that are poised to carry out this work and need just a little support. Together, we can invest in a thriving ecosystem of cities across the country that are climate resilient, equitable, and welcoming.  

Climate-driven disasters like Katrina are happening and will continue to happen — this is a phenomenon that will affect everyone. The earlier we prepare, the better the outcomes will be.  

Taryn Higashi is the executive director of Unbound Philanthropy. David Lubell is senior climate mobility and cities fellow at ICLEI – USA.