Stephen Lipp believes he should be paid not to live in your city. He jokes that he may bring floods. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina pushed him from his home in New Orleans. In 2017 the waters came again, rising inside his home in a city just outside of Houston, Texas. He is a climate migrant, twice over.

Although Mr. Lipp and his family grieve the loss of their homes, they are among the fortunate. They have had the resources to be climate resilient, and been well enough integrated into their new community that they were able to rebuild. Local city initiatives like Houston’s Complete Communities Initiative and the Climate Action Plan are helping immigrants and climate migrants build their own climate resiliency. 

Mayors are leading the charge in addressing and preparing for climate migration. In response to Biden’s February Executive Order on climate migration, mayors from across the United States, including Houston’s mayor, wrote a letter to the administration. The letter identifies climate migration, both within the US and internationally as a priority for local leadership and asks that city officials be incorporated in the national process.

Climate migration is estimated to impact up to 1 billion people by 2050. Biden recognizes this, but change at the national level is slow. He commissioned a report by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, on how to identify those directly or indirectly displaced by climate change. The report is expected to be completed in August. 

At the end of the day though it will be in local communities that we have to act. Action may be decided top-down, but it starts from the ground up.

We are all going to be impacted one way or another by climate migration, and cities like Houston know that firsthand. Houston sheltered more than 250,000 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a fifth of whom, like Lipp, decided to stay. And as Lipp could tell you, Houston is also experiencing its own severe weather; thousands of residents were displaced during 2017’s Hurricane Harvey and floods returned in 2019’s Tropical Storm Imelda. 

Whether we migrate ourselves, know community or family members that move, or are seeing new faces in our communities, climate migration is unavoidable

The letter from the mayors takes a positive and optimistic tone, and all three of their asks focus on centering local leadership in solutions. First, they request that local officials in the US already doing the work are included in initiatives to receive and include climate migrants. Second, they urge that the US collaborate directly with international migrant departure cities in developing migration and resiliency pathways. Lastly, they emphasize that people – all people – should be included in the discussion. 

Support for incoming community members can also benefit those that are already settled. Houston’s Language Access Plan, ensures that all departments support non-English speaking residents. This plan will benefit the existing population, nearly half of which speaks a language other than English at home, as well as newcomers. As the letter says, local communities must ensure that incoming populations have the tools they need to “thrive in their new home and enrich our societies.”

Integrating climate migrants may happen nationally but it will be slow. First, it will start small, with us as individuals, the organizations we are part of and our local leaders. You can read the mayors’ letter here – and if your local official has yet to sign on, give them a call.