Assessing local governments’ preparedness and willingness to welcome climate and disaster-displaced populations

Environmental hazards and climate change are displacing millions of people globally. Many regions and cities have, or will soon become, the frontline recipient destinations for domestic and foreign climate migrants, but how well prepared are local governments for resettling newcomers, and what factors determine when local communities are willing to welcome displaced residents? This paper reviews how local governments in the United States seek to actualize effective and equitable climate resettlement through the proposal of a community-led, inclusive receiving community framework. The framework identifies how the interrelationships between government, market, and community actors co-determine the preparedness and willingness of local governments to expand programs, plans, and initiatives for resettling diverse climate and disaster-displaced populations. The framework validates how equity and inclusion require deliberative logics of care and establishing strategic goals for mutual opportunity in climate destinations. Finally, this perspective proposes that local governments develop and complete an absorptive capacity impact assessment to help estimate the volume and types of climate migrants the community can receive over time and support community-led planning processes.