RAPID/Collaborative Research: Cascading Impacts of the 2021 Texas Winter Storm on Subsidized Housing Residents: A Comparative Analysis

2021年德克萨斯州冬季风暴包括从2月10日到20日经过的三个北极锋面。由于德克萨斯州的许多县面临创纪录的低温，德克萨斯州的独立电网几乎完全崩溃，500多万人断电。这场灾难的连锁影响包括供水中断、开水建议、通信和交通中断、食物短缺和居民流离失所，影响到新冠肺炎的传播和治疗。这一快速反应研究拨款(RAPID)项目的目的是对2021年德克萨斯州冬季风暴对八个大都市地区居民的级联影响进行全面和比较分析。对家庭经历的可靠评估是对时间敏感的，快速供资使从受影响的家庭收集高质量、短暂的数据成为可能。该项目将促进学术界、实践者和公众对影响大流行期间社会对连锁灾害影响的脆弱性的因素的了解，这将为今后寻求在全国范围内提高对此类事件的复原力的努力奠定基础。项目组将通过多种渠道传播调查结果，包括在顶级期刊上发表文章，并向相关利益攸关方受众举办网络研讨会。此外，调查结果将通过一个网站共享，为利益攸关方、研究人员、教育工作者和其他利益攸关方提供有关2021年德克萨斯州冬季风暴不利影响的信息。通过这些渠道，该项目将把社会福利扩展到学术界以外。该项目将社会脆弱性应用于2021年德克萨斯州冬季风暴，以增进对连锁灾害的社会不均衡影响的了解，以及补贴租赁住房居民经历的灾害脆弱性。我们将调查以下研究问题：(1)居民在应对2021年德克萨斯州冬季风暴时经历了哪些连锁影响？(2)基于社会特征、住房状况、电网服务提供商(ERCOT与其他)和大都市地区，连锁冬季风暴的影响有何不同？(3)居民的社会特征、住房状况、电网服务提供商以及风暴的当地物理属性(例如，(4)新冠肺炎疫情是如何放大冬季风暴对居民福祉的连锁效应的？该项目涉及一项用英语/西班牙语手机进行的社会调查，调查对象是在德州8个大都市地区居住在HUD辅助的多户住宅中的家庭和居住在私人(非HUD辅助)家庭中的家庭。通过系统地研究这场灾难的多方面影响的社会、物理和建筑环境决定因素-基于补贴住房与私人住房、居住在ERCOT电网内与外部以及八个MSA之间的比较-我们的项目寻求改变关于社会脆弱性的基础知识，以应对因灾难而导致的连锁基础设施故障。此外，它还将促进对社会弱势群体和未被研究的群体--补贴多户住房居民--所经历的灾害脆弱性的了解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The 2021 Texas Winter Storm included the passage of three arctic fronts from 10 through 20 February. As numerous Texas counties faced record low temperatures, the independent electric grid for Texas nearly experienced a total collapse and more than 5 million people lost access to electricity. The cascading effects of this disaster included water service disruptions, boil-water advisories, communication and transportation disruptions, food shortages, and residential dislocation with implications for COVID-19 transmission and treatment. The purpose of this Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project is to conduct a comprehensive and comparative analysis of the cascading impacts of the 2021 Texas Winter Storm on residents in eight metropolitan areas. Reliable assessment of household experiences is time-sensitive, and RAPID funding is enabling the collection of high quality, ephemeral data from affected households. The project will advance academic, practitioner, and public knowledge regarding factors influencing societal vulnerability to cascading disaster impacts during a pandemic which will be foundational to future efforts that seek to enhance resilience to such events nationwide. The project team will disseminate findings via multiple outlets, including by publishing articles in top-tier journals and delivering webinars to relevant stakeholder audiences. Additionally, findings will be shared via a website providing stakeholders, researchers, educators and other stakeholders with access to information about adverse impacts of the 2021 Texas Winter Storm. Through these channels, the project will extend societal benefits beyond the academic community.This project applies a social vulnerability to disasters perspective to the 2021 Texas Winter Storm to advance knowledge of the socially uneven impacts of cascading disasters, and the disaster vulnerabilities experienced by subsidized rental housing residents. We will investigate the following research questions: (1) What cascading impacts did residents experience in response to the 2021 Texas Winter Storm? (2) How did cascading winter storm impacts differ based on social characteristics, housing status, electricity grid service provider (ERCOT vs. others), and metropolitan area? (3) How did the social characteristics of residents, their housing status, their electricity grid service provider, and the local physical attributes of the storm (e.g., temperature and precipitation) influence the cascading winter storm impacts they experienced? (4) How did the COVID-19 pandemic amplify the cascading effects of the winter storm on residents’ well-being? The project involves a social survey conducted by cellular phone in English/Spanish with households in HUD-assisted multi-family housing and households residing in private (non-HUD-assisted) homes, in eight Texas metropolitan areas. By systematically examining the social, physical, and built environment determinants of this disaster’s multifaceted effects—based on comparisons between subsidized vs. private housing, residence within vs. outside the ERCOT grid, and across eight MSAs—our project seeks to transform fundamental knowledge of social vulnerability to cascading infrastructure failure due to disasters. Additionally, it will advance knowledge regarding disaster vulnerabilities experienced by a socially disadvantaged and under-studied group—residents of subsidized multi-family housing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.