Heat, Health, Racial Injustice, and Affordable Housing
Affordable housing is falling short of protecting its residents from the health impacts of a rapidly intensifying climate. Hotter indoor temperatures and building materials that off-gas toxic chemicals are combining into another form of climate-induced racial injustice.
People of color with lower household incomes are more likely to live in hotter areas compared to whiter neighborhoods. Research shows that both Black residents and residents with lower incomes often live in neighborhoods up to seven degrees hotter than in suburban areas only a few zip codes away. Affordable housing often has building products that can pose health risks to its occupants including vinyl flooring, SPF insulation, sealants, and adhesives. New research being developed is producing evidence that hotter temperatures result in higher incidences of chemical exposure inside the home. Because of this, retrofitted and new affordable housing should be built with healthier, third-party certified building materials to lessen the heat-amplified exposure of hazardous chemicals that are detrimental to human health.
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