Your House Is Underwater and You Don’t Even Know It

Climate change cost me my home. It may cost you yours. 

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. I didn’t live in a flood zone, yet I found myself canoeing in my living room, inundated four feet high. To this day, nearly eight years later, there are houses in my neighborhood that are still stripped to their bones, sitting vacant. Natural disasters scar, and they’re a scar more Americans will soon bear.

From Hurricane Helene devastating Appalachia in 2024 to the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025, the pattern is clear: climate change is no longer a future threat. In the 1980s, the United States, on average, faced a billion-dollar disaster every four months. Today, these disasters occur every three weeks. Despite this, in the past year, more than 300,000 Americans moved to the most climate-vulnerable counties driven by the promise of affordable housing. What most Americans don’t know is that Climate Change is coming for the very thing they hold most dear, the largest financial asset they own—their home. 

Climate costs are rising, and home values are starting to crack. If climate risks were priced into home ownership, the most vulnerable homeowners could lose between 23% to 61% of their home equity. This may only be the beginning. One real estate investor, David Burt of DeltaTerra Capital, predicts that within the next five years, about one-fifth of U.S. residential properties will see their value decline as insurance premiums and other housing costs skyrocket.

Meanwhile, insurance is becoming prohibitively expensive or simply unavailable to those in high-risk areas. In a world where disasters are certain, the concept of insurable risk collapses. The U.S. counties in the top fifth for climate disaster risk saw home insurance premiums rise by 22% in just three years. And even if you are able to secure insurance, it might not be enough. Wildfire and flood risks remain chronically under-insured by as much as $28.7 billion a year, leaving more than 17 million homes vulnerable and $1.2 trillion in value at risk.

Some insurers have begun limiting coverage by zip code or pulling out of states entirely, California and North Carolina are already seeing this trend. But if you can’t get insurance, you can’t get a mortgage. Suddenly, your dream home becomes your biggest financial liability. And don’t expect the government to bail you out. Many Americans assume that if disaster strikes, FEMA will step in. FEMA support is already too small—something that I experienced myself. For example, most grants to cover flooding damage average just $3,000 to $6,000, while serious flood restoration costs often exceed $50,000. But federal support for FEMA is declining. The Trump administration has proposed cutting FEMA, shifting disaster response responsibility to the states. And has already cut tools like FEMA’s Future Risk Index, which projects annual losses from wildfires, flooding, and hurricanes.

Homeownership, the cornerstone of the American dream, is no longer going to be the stable investment it once was. Policymakers must recognize that most Americans are in the dark about this looming threat. Show Americans the risks they face. Use this moment to speak to climate skeptic constituents. Point to the devaluation of their property and the surge in insurance premiums.

To homeowners and anyone who dreams of owning a home, climate change is here. It’s in our premiums, our property values, and our neighborhood buyouts. It’s in my story. It came for my home. It’s coming for yours.

Solemei Scamaroni

Undergraduate Seminar Fellow

Solemei Scamaroni is a first-year student from Houston on track to study philosophy, politics, and economics in the College of Arts and Sciences. Scamaroni is also a 2025 Undergraduate Student Fellow.