A typical summer day in Los Angeles, we imagine perpetually sunny skies and palm trees swaying in the breeze. This is certainly the experience you’d have if you visited Silver Lake, a wealthy suburb where the median household income is more than $98,000 a year and the community is predominantly white. You’d be able to enjoy the summer heat, because the hilly streets are adorned with mature trees that offer cooling shade.
One mile away in East Hollywood, this experience would be entirely different. On a day when surface temperatures in Silver Lake averaged 96.4 degrees, they averaged 102.7 degrees in East Hollywood. In the predominantly Latino and Asian area, the median household income is less than $27,000 a year. Unlike Silver Lake, East Hollywood is characterized by older, multi-story apartment buildings and has less than one-third of the tree cover found in Silver Lake.
Climate change is turning the heat up during California summers with an increase in the occurrence and intensity of heat waves. The impacts are far from uniform. While there has been growing scholarship on vulnerability to extreme heat, a recent study done by C.J. Cabbe of Santa Clara University and Gregory Pierce of the University of California, Los Angeles looked specifically at residents of subsidized housing. Their research reveals a disturbing reality: low-income households living in subsidized housing are most vulnerable to extreme heat. This is especially relevant because heat is currently the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States.
What does it mean to be vulnerable to climate change?
Climate change affects everyone’s lives, especially our health. However, the severity with which individuals experience negative health impacts from climate change largely depends on their ability to acclimate to the stressors imposed by climate change. More vulnerable people may lack infrastructure, healthcare access, and economic stability to cope with or adapt. Often those living in subsidized housing have preexisting conditions, such as age, gender, or disability, that make them more vulnerable to climate change.
What is subsidized housing? And who lives in subsidized housing?
Subsidized housing provides low-income families with affordable places to live. Through various programs like Section 8 vouchers and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), the government assists these families by covering a portion of the rent. In addition to low-income families, subsidized housing often serves elderly and disabled individuals living on fixed incomes, homeless individuals and families, as well as veterans.
What does the research show?
The research reveals a harsh reality: a disproportionate share of Californians with low incomes living in subsidized housing reside in neighborhoods that are hotter, have more heat-sensitive populations, and have a harder time adapting to changes in the climate. Part of the reason these predominantly Black, Asian, and Latino neighborhoods are more likely to live in hotter areas is deeply intertwined with historical injustices, such as racism that saddled their neighborhoods with industrial facilities and freeways instead of parks and green spaces.
The research points out three key built-environment factors that affect a resident’s ability to adapt to extreme heat:
1). County-level percentage of households with air conditioning.
2). Extent of tree canopy coverage.
3). Area of impervious surfaces, such as pavements that are covered by materials like asphalt, concrete, brick, stone—and rooftops.
The availability of central AC is directly associated with better health outcomes, however, it is also often too expensive to operate or is inaccessible to low-income residents. During heat waves, when indoor temperatures exceed outdoor temperatures and persist into the night because of the heat the buildings absorb, those living in older, less insulated homes without access to air conditioning are at high risk.
In “urban heat islands,” which refer to cities that have dense concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat, there are strategies to lessen the threat. Urban greening, using lighter-colored paving and roofs, and planting more trees for canopy coverage all help. However, communities of color and subsidized housing neighborhoods disproportionately suffer from extensive pavement and a lack of greenery and shade. Remember Silver Lake and East Hollywood? They exemplify what researchers have coined “thermal inequity.”
Cities have options to address these thermal inequities. Urban forestry initiatives in subsidized housing neighborhoods can be prioritized by local governments. Cities can encourage solar-reflective roofs and pavement, and increase permeable paving. Additionally, state and federal programs can retrofit existing housing and mitigate extreme heat in new subsidized developments.
Enhancing housing quality and expanding green spaces are not just solutions to climate change. They are life-saving measures that pave the way for a more equitable and sustainable future for all Californians. By addressing the disparities in climate vulnerability and building resilience in marginalized communities, California can take a significant step towards ensuring that the Golden State remains a land of dreams for everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic background.