Sponsors (11)
The resolution increases visibility of climate-driven risks to housing and financial systems—helping policymakers and communities prepare and potentially spur resilience investments—but that transparency could depress property markets, raise insurance and mortgage costs for affected homeowners, and create fiscal exposure for taxpayers.
Policymakers, regulators, and financial institutions would be alerted to systemic climate-driven risks to mortgage and insurance markets, enabling regulatory or market actions to reduce the chance of cascading bank or insurer failures.
Homeowners and at-risk communities would receive greater attention and potentially new funding or programs for housing resilience, which could protect residents and lower future disaster recovery costs.
Homeowners and property owners in climate-exposed areas would gain clearer information about likely climate-driven impacts on property values and mortgage risk, allowing better planning and risk mitigation (e.g., moving, retrofitting, or financial planning).
Homeowners in identified high-risk areas could face higher insurance premiums or lose access to coverage if insurers react to the findings by raising rates or restricting policies.
Homeowners in areas highlighted as vulnerable could see property values fall and mortgage costs rise if markets price in projected losses.
Taxpayers could bear fiscal costs if the government intervenes (e.g., bailouts, subsidies, or other stabilization measures) to limit financial-system fallout from climate-driven property losses.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Makes congressional findings that sea-level rise and climate-driven flooding threaten U.S. housing values and could pose systemic financial risks.
Official title: Recognizing that climate change poses a threat to the mortgage market and to home values.
Introduced December 17, 2025 by Sheldon Whitehouse · Last progress December 17, 2025
Establishes congressional findings about how climate change and sea-level rise threaten U.S. housing values and financial stability. It summarizes research showing large and growing losses to coastal and at-risk residential and commercial property values, cites projections of properties at risk of chronic flooding through 2045 and to 2100, and highlights warnings from financial regulators about cascading risks to the housing market and broader economy.