By Thomas Lee, CEO at First Place for Youth 

As Los Angeles endures a record-breaking October heat wave, the climate crisis is no longer a distant threat. It is a present-day housing and health emergency—especially for transition-age young people leaving foster care. 

For people with air conditioning, stable housing, reliable transportation, and family to call in an emergency, extreme heat is disruptive. For young adults aging out of foster care, it can be dangerous. Many are already navigating low incomes, unstable housing, and limited support networks. A room without air conditioning, an unpaid utility bill, a disrupted bus route, or a lost work shift can rapidly become a crisis. 

Young people leaving foster care are often asked to achieve independence on timelines that most of their peers would find impossible. They may not have a parent’s couch to sleep on if a roommate arrangement falls apart, help paying for a hotel during an evacuation, or savings to replace belongings after a wildfire or flood. 

Climate change will intensify these risks. Extreme heat, fires, floods, and storms make housing less affordable, interrupt work and transportation, increase food and utility costs, and push people from their communities. For a young person with limited savings and no dependable adult safety net, a single climate disaster can trigger homelessness and displacement. 

This is where climate justice and child-welfare policy meet. We cannot prepare young people for adulthood as if stable housing, a family safety net, and a predictable climate are guaranteed. They are not. 

The people most harmed by climate displacement will be those already closest to the edge: low-income renters, people experiencing homelessness, survivors of violence, people with disabilities, and young adults leaving foster care. Young women, including young mothers, may face additional burdens when disasters disrupt child care, employment, transportation, and access to safe shelter. LGBTQ+ young people can face added danger in emergency settings that are not affirming or safe. 

The solution is not to wait until the next disaster. Policymakers and philanthropists must treat housing stability as climate resilience. That means extending housing and supportive services for young people leaving foster care; providing flexible emergency assistance for hotel stays, transportation, utility bills, and lost income; and ensuring cooling centers, shelters, and disaster-response systems are accessible, trauma-informed, and safe for all young people. 

Los Angeles’ heat wave was a warning. Young people should not leave foster care only to find themselves alone in a climate emergency. If we are serious about supporting their transition to adulthood, we must build systems that help them withstand the world as it is—not the world we wish still existed. 

Related Content