In 2022, the City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM), in partnership with Home Forward, the local Housing Authority, initiated and funded an effort to track summer temperatures inside of public housing units. This project was undertaken in response to the ‘heat dome’ event of 2021, which resulted in 69 fatalities in Multnomah County, including several residents who lived in public housing. Project partners sought to improve their understanding of indoor heat conditions and context-appropriate interventions for public housing properties. 

The City of Portland contracted CAPA to design, manage, and execute the Home Forward Indoor Temperature Assessment. Using a systematic approach that combined environmental monitoring (via temperature sensing) and social scientific research techniques, CAPA completed an 8-month assessment across three Home Forward properties. This included continuous temperature monitoring in 53 residences during the summer of 2022; a social survey of participating residents, focused on their heat-related experiences, challenges, and adaptive behaviors; and two resident workshops which provided further insight into temperature findings and enabled residents to propose cooling interventions. Workshops were essential to explaining unexpected study findings. For example, air conditioner (AC) giveaways are a popular intervention; yet, according to our study, residences with a portable AC were not significantly cooler than those without. Based on resident input, we determined possible explanations for this result and crafted recommendations accordingly. 

This novel assessment relied on cross-sectoral partnerships; the integration of quantitative and qualitative data; and the participation of heat-affected residents in collecting data, interpreting results, and identifying solutions. Actionable recommendations were developed in consultation with PBEM, Home Forward, and the Multnomah County Health Department and reflect empirical study findings, as well as resident feedback collected during workshops. Read the full project report here.

In 2023-2024, CAPA completed a second year of this study in three new Home Forward properties. The year 2 report will be available here in spring 2024.