An article on Miami affordable housing in the Huffington Post has a patently absurd title suggesting that only the wealthy can withstand the onslaught of climate change.
Do Huffington Post reporters imagine that the proverbial 1% of the population with 85% of America’s wealth tucked in their pockets are so all-powerful that they become like King Canute, standing on a beach and commanding the waves to recede?
The article sings a familiar song about increasing unaffordability of housing and its impact on the poor — in Miami the most needy residents are disproportionately people of colour.
An interesting wrinkle in the article relates the impact of rising sea levels on still-affordable neighbourhoods. Perhaps such a neighbourhood has been sited in a particular place by sheer historical accident. Whatever the reason, those built on higher ground are becoming increasingly targeted for gentrification. Wealthier citizens are apparently beginning to accept that, climate change or not, sea levels are indeed rising. High tides and bad weather are more frequently threatening lower-lying areas, with 2018 witnessing devastating flooding in several states.
Gentrifying higher ground while historic harbourside downtowns hover mere feet above sea level? It’s an interesting image of a late 21st century coastal city: mansions of the wealthy clustered on hilltop islands and clusters of high rise luxury condos and office towers rising from the downtown deep and serviced by gondoliers.
Many coastal cities will drown beneath rising sea levels. Do they merit housing investment at all, whether through gentrification or preservation of existing affordable stock? Or should they be slowly abandoned?
Read more in the Huffington Post: As Climate Change Hits Miami, Only The Rich Will Be Able To Protect Themselves.
