These Loans Help Poor Families Rebuild After Climate Disasters

Next City

When Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida in 2022, it was the third-costliest weather disaster on record worldwide. Damages totaled over $100 billion dollars. So you can imagine what that looks like, because we've all seen the images of communities across Florida and the Carolinas left grappling with the aftermath of climate disasters like this one—damaged homes, displaced families, and an unclear road to recovery.
The wait for aid can stretch on for months. And that's where predatory lendors come in, offering loan terms with sky-high interest rates that mean risking your home and property as collateral.
But the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund means new federal money is incoming to help support community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, fill in that gap and help vulnerable low- and middle-income people facing climate emergencies.
In this episode of the Next City podcast, part of our CDFI Futures series in collaboration with Partners for the Common Good, we hear from the Solar Energy Loan Fund's Ann Vanek-Dasovich about how the fund allowed familites to start rebuilding immediately by offering them loans with zero-interest and no collateral; Beneficial State Bank's Jae Easterbrooks about how environmentally-conscious banking can help America's response to climate change; and Partners for the Common Good CEO Jeannine Jakokes about how CDFIs might be able to scale these solutions with new federal dollars on the way.