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2月10日至20日的三个北极锋面。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，超过500万人失去了电力供应。这场灾难的连锁反应包括供水服务中断、开水供应中断、通信和交通中断、食品短缺以及居民搬迁，对COVID-19的传播和治疗产生影响。快速反应研究（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具有时间敏感性，而“快速行动计划”的供资使人们能够从受影响家庭收集高质量、短暂的数据。该项目将推进学术界、从业者和公众对影响社会在大流行期间对级联灾害影响的脆弱性的因素的了解，这将是今后努力在全国范围内提高对此类事件的复原力的基础。项目小组将通过多个渠道传播调查结果，包括在顶级期刊上发表文章，并向相关利益攸关方受众提供网络研讨会。此外，调查结果将通过一个网站分享，为利益相关者，研究人员，教育工作者和其他利益相关者提供有关2021年德克萨斯州冬季风暴不利影响的信息。通过这些渠道，该项目将扩大社会效益超越学术界。该项目应用灾害的社会脆弱性的角度来看，2021年德克萨斯州冬季风暴，以推进知识的社会不平衡的影响级联灾害，和灾害的脆弱性所经历的补贴出租房居民。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级联影响？(2)级联冬季风暴的影响如何根据社会特征，住房状况，电网服务提供商（ERCOT与其他）和大都市地区而有所不同？(3)居民的社会特征、他们的住房状况、他们的电网服务提供商以及风暴的当地物理属性（例如，温度和降水）影响他们经历的级联冬季风暴的影响？(4)COVID-19疫情如何放大冬季风暴对居民福祉的连锁反应？该项目涉及在得克萨斯州八个大城市地区通过手机用英语/西班牙语对住房和城市发展部援助的多户住房中的家庭和居住在私人（非住房和城市发展部援助的）住房中的家庭进行社会调查。通过系统地研究这场灾难的多方面影响的社会，物理和建筑环境的决定因素，基于补贴与私人住房，ERCOT电网内外的住宅之间的比较，以及八个MSA，我们的项目旨在将社会脆弱性的基本知识转化为由于灾害导致的级联基础设施故障。此外，它将促进对社会弱势群体和未得到充分研究的多户补贴住房居民所经历的灾害脆弱性的认识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.