The HIA addressed a decision about where to locate affordable housing along a high-traffic transit and retail corridor in Richmond and El Cerrito, California. The HIA was done in conjunction with a planning process for revitalization of the corridor. Pathways and health issues explored included neighborhood “health assets” (e.g., parks, trails, community centers, schools, transit and retail diversity) and “health liabilities” (e.g., air pollution, noise, collisions and concentrated poverty) for potential residents of affordable housing. Among the HIA‘s recommendations were: increasing space for healthy retail and public services, such as full-service grocery stores; offering reduced-cost transit passes to residents, incentives for car-share memberships and car-share parking; joint-use agreements with local schools; improved park maintenance and security to improve safety; a new public elementary school; increased access to existing community and senior centers; bike lanes, traffic calming features and pedestrian-level lighting; housing-design strategies for reducing air and noise impacts; indoor ventilation and filtration systems for removing air pollutants; mixed-income housing developments; and a living wage offered by local employers.
Outcome
A letter from Human Impact Partners coalition partners to City Council and city staff included health-based recommendations and is currently being considered.
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This Health Impact Assessment Report first appeared in The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health. The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health was originally developed by the Health Impact Project, formerly a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The creation of this resource was supported by a grant from the Health Impact Project. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Pew Charitable Trusts, or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
