Beating the heat in a low-income urban community of color: a qualitative study of coping strategies, barriers, and solutions

Residents of low-income urban communities of color, such as New Haven, Connecticut’s Dwight neighborhood, are disproportionately impacted by ambient heat. In this qualitative study, we conducted five focus groups with Dwight residents to explore health impacts of heat, coping mechanisms, barriers to staying cool, and potential solutions. Participants reported a range of adverse physical and mental health impacts from heat and stressed that persons with pre-existing medical conditions, the elderly, children, unhoused people, and menopausal women are especially vulnerable. Strategies to cope with heat included home air conditioning, fans, showers, not using stoves, wearing fewer clothes, and leaving the home for air-conditioned spaces. Barriers to staying cool identified by participants included Dwight being hotter than other New Haven neighborhoods, not having home air conditioning or the high cost of using home air conditioning, impediments to implementing cooling strategies as renters, lack of knowledge of or lack of access to cooling centers and public pools, living on an upper floor, being unhoused, workplace heat exposure, and poor communication about and difficulty in accessing energy and cooling assistance programs. Participants suggested the need for more trees and green spaces, recreational water spaces, shaded bus stop shelters, accessible cooling centers, programs for renters to make home cooling more accessible and affordable, and wellness checks on the elderly during heat waves. Some participants also expressed concerns about staying warm in the winter. Participants spoke of collective action, especially to protect vulnerable groups. In summary, Dwight residents recognized that they live in an urban heat island, reported using a range of coping strategies, expressed concern for vulnerable groups, and identified barriers to keeping cool, along with a variety of solutions. To implement solutions, state and municipal public investment and innovative mandates and incentives for landlords, spurred on by collective action by residents, are needed.