HOPE VI to HOPE SF: San Francisco Public Housing Redevelopment

Copyright: 2009
Published Date: 12/31/2008
Published By: Health Impact Project

The HIA provided a retrospective analysis of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) HOPE VI efforts to rebuild two affordable housing projects in San Francisco, California. The goal of the HIA was to highlight health impacts of redevelopment of public housing more generally by building capacity to conduct HIAs and informing the current HOPE SF process, wherein the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing is redeveloping five public housing sites. Health issues explored included analyzing project impacts on healthy housing, environmental health, programming and services, safety and crime, healthy eating, active living, displacement, public participation and social cohesion. The HIA recommended more participation in the planning of redevelopment of public housing by current residents; greater efforts and funding for relocation and return of residents before and after construction; more and better-coordinated, on-site programming for families and youth; on-site security; and better responsiveness of management to environmental health problems, such as plumbing and vector infestation.

Outcome

The HIA has been included in the City and County of San Francisco's discussions about HOPE SF, which is the city's redevelopment effort of eight public housing sites. In particular, the HIA results were used in discussions around social cohesion, displacement, programs and services, and crime. HOPE SF is currently underway and the San Francisco Department of Public Health continues to be involved in the discussions.

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.