Housing justice and climate justice are inextricably linked. The housing crisis and the climate crisis are both escalating, and impacting low income and BIPOC communities the hardest. Climate change threatens the affordability of homes with rising costs for energy, potentially costly upgrades of our heating technology, increasing heat waves and extreme weather, and poor air quality.

Everyone deserves to live in a safe, healthy home that stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And environmental stability is critical to maintaining affordable, stable rent prices. The health and environmental quality of an equitable community depend on its stability and its members’ shared control and belonging. 

Affordability, rent stability, and reducing energy burden are crucial for keeping people in their homes and thus are key aspects of climate justice and community resilience. 

Home retrofits improve indoor air quality, reduce asthma, and reduce disproportionate energy burden by lowering heating and cooling bills – but if landlords pass the retrofitting costs on to tenants, tenants are forced out. Efficiency is critical for environmental justice, health, and stabilizing energy costs, and it needs to be linked with anti-displacement measures to keep people in their communities. 

Through this campaign, BCAN is advocating for housing retrofits to improve energy efficiency combined with anti-displacement and affordability across Boston, particularly in low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods and Environmental Justice communities. We are partnering with other Boston-based community advocacy / housing justice organizations and neighborhood groups to reach these goals. In coalition, we aim to ensure that city, state, and federal money for home energy improvements are equitably distributed to all Boston residents.