Health impact assessment of siting public housing units following a natural disaster

Background In 2008, flooding from Hurricane Ike destroyed the majority of public housing in Galveston, Texas. Part of the plans for replacement of the lost public housing units were to utilize a scattered-site approach, rather than replace the barracks style apartment complexes originally used in the city. Given the diversity of the built environment of the city, as well as the challenges of building on a barrier island, a health impact assessment (HIA) was conducted to inform the siting of these scattered site units.

Methods Using commonly accepted HIA methodology, the assessment team, with support from a community advisory steering committee and a team of expert consultants, completed a screening and scoping process, assessed current conditions, and developed a series of recommendations to aid in the selection of possible sites to develop scattered site public housing. The methods included examining available secondary data, analyzing data using geographic information systems (GIS), conducting key informant interviews, holding a series of focus groups with current public housing residents, and piloting a parcel-level assessment process.

Results and Discussion The results of this HIA yielded two primary outcomes. First, a set of recommendations was created that will aid in 1) identifying areas to begin acquiring parcels for scattered site housing and 2) mitigating potential negative health impacts. Second, a scoring system was developed that allowed for the modeling of possible impacts of individual or combined mitigation strategies. The processes and outcomes that will be shared from this HIA can be utilized in other geographic settings and in other settings.