A recent report from real estate firm Redfin shows that climate change will exacerbate the existing housing shortage in the U.S.

As of October 2021, the U.S. housing market is 3.8 million homes short of what is needed to meet the country’s demand and the number of active listings of residential property for sale is down 22% from 2020, according to Houston Agent Magazine.

The rapid onset of climate change could cause some homes to become unlivable, depleting the current housing stock and increasing the demand for climate resilient homes.

“People: climate change is very worrying, also inflation, also the housing shortage the Govt: relax, we've got the perfect solution for all of that [dedicates itself entirely to removing anonymity on social media]” Gpoptosis wrote in an Oct. 25 Twitter post.

NBC News reports that California is already starting to see climate change worsening the already-existing housing crisis. The state is having to make decisions to address California's long-standing problems of wildfires and drought while creating more affordable housing.

“It’s such an existential issue for a California facing climate change,” Santa Monica resident Leonora Camner told NBC News. “With these extreme fires, I don't see how we can ever address housing in a way that doesn't plan for that fact. There is no getting around it.”