Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang defended his plan to move Americans living in low lying areas to higher ground on Wednesday.

Asked about the plan by a New York resident who lives at sea level, Yang said he would “100% make funds available” to move people to higher ground and pay for it by ending fossil fuel subsidies.

“Now it’s time to take some of that money and channel it to the needs of the American people,” Yang said. “There are already climate refugees in the United States of America, people that we relocated from an island that was essentially becoming uninhabitable in Louisiana and we moved those people.”

Yang added: “None of this is speculative anymore. We need to wake up and let you know that you’re not on your own. This is not a you problem, this is an us problem. What do sophisticated, advanced societies do? We solve the problems on the ground.”

Yang has not shied away from this position and brought it up during CNN’s Democratic debate in July.

“We need to do everything we can to start moving the climate in the right direction, but we also need to start moving our people to higher ground,” Yang said at the debate. “And the best way to do that is to put economic resources into your hands so you can protect yourself and your families.”