Sara McTarnaghan is a principal research associate and colead of the Climate and Communities practice area at the Urban Institute. Her work focuses on postdisaster housing recovery, resilience capacity building, climate-forward regional planning, and long-term adaptation to climate risk, with a focus on achieving equitable community-level outcomes.

McTarnaghan leads mixed-methods research, evaluation, and technical assistance for federal agencies, philanthropies, and local governments to strengthen climate-resilient housing and community development strategies. Her work helps decisionmakers design policies, target resources, and implement programs that improve outcomes for communities facing increasing climate risk.

McTarnaghan’s recent work includes leading outcome evaluations of city- and regional-level climate resilience initiatives; conducting a US Department of Housing and Urban Development–funded study on the role of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery in supporting disaster recovery for renters and affordable rental housing; supporting regional planning efforts in California’s Central Valley under the Jobs First program; developing scenario-planning tools to help Gulf Coast communities address climate-related health risks; and providing technical assistance to local governments and community development organizations to advance community-driven climate action.

McTarnaghan is a frequent contributor to media on climate and disaster issues, with her work featured in NPR, the New York Times, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, and CityLab. She previously worked at a nonprofit housing organization in Santiago, Chile, and is fluent in Spanish. She holds an MS in community and regional planning and an MA in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin.