The Federal Emergency Management Agency aims to free up as much as $10 billion to build climate resiliency through existing grant programs through a budgeting maneuver which would count federal COVID spending towards a formula that allocates money towards climate programs, according to an article in the New York Times.
A recent New York Times article describes a previously undisclosed agreement that has guaranteed industry representatives seats on two powerful committees that approve building codes that are widely adopted nationwide.
An article published in the Mercury News highlights a controversial proposed development or nearly 500 single-family homes near the edge of the San Francisco Bay in Newark. This article highlights the challenges that the Bay Area faces without regional guidance on development along the shoreline.
An article posted in the New York Times this week highlights the alarming rate of climate-vulnerable development occurring across the country and the measures that cities are taking to combat it, including imposing new rules on developers on building homes in floodplains, providing financial assistance for rebuilding in the wake of a storm, and rejecting proposed developments in floodplains outright.
A new article in the New York Times highlights the nearly quarter-million flood insurance policies that are in violation of a simple rule: if you want publicly-subsidized flood insurance, you cannot build a home that is likely to flood.
An article posted on U.C. Berkeley's Energy Institute at Haas blog today highlights the fact that while building electrification mandates are becoming more widespread, policies that only apply to new buildings will be limited in their near-term impact, given the extremely slow rate of new construction, particularly in the Bay Area. This issue is compounded by COVID-19, which has slowed housing starts down by 30% in the US.
An article in the New York Times today highlights new research showing that Americans support government action to restrict development in climate-threatened flood and fire zones -- in some cases, the policies that Americans support are far more stringent than what local governments are currently willing to pursue.