As deadly and destructive wildfires become increasingly common in the western United States due to climate change, low-income households face particular difficulties recovering from these disasters. Despite this threat, surprisingly little empirical evidence exists about the exposure and vulnerability to wildfire hazards of residents of subsidized housing. This study focuses on the subsidized housing population for several reasons: residents generally have less adaptive capacity to respond to wildfires; the locations of subsidized housing units reflect relatively stable locations of low-income households for decades; and policymakers can intervene to retrofit existing housing as well as shape future housing siting and design. The dataset created for this study includes all Census tracts in California with housing units by type, wildland-urban interface (WUI) coverage, and an index of social vulnerability. Using a combination of descriptive statistics and spatial regression models, the analysis focuses on the intersection of subsidized housing and wildfire hazards. Results show that subsidized housing is disproportionately located outside the WUI in California’s metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. However, policy interventions are necessary because many vulnerable households—including those residing in the 140,000 subsidized units in the WUI—live in harm’s way.

中文翻译：

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加州的补贴家庭和野火危害

由于气候变化，致命和破坏性的野火在美国西部变得越来越普遍，低收入家庭面临着从这些灾难中恢复过来的特别困难。尽管存在这种威胁，但令人惊讶的是，关于补贴住房居民面临野火危害的风险和脆弱性的经验证据却很少。出于以下几个原因，本研究重点关注补贴住房人口：居民应对野火的适应能力普遍较差；补贴住房单元的位置反映了低收入家庭几十年来相对稳定的位置；政策制定者可以干预改造现有住房以及塑造未来的住房选址和设计。为本研究创建的数据集包括加利福尼亚州的所有人口普查区，按类型划分住房单元，荒地-城市界面 (WUI) 覆盖范围，以及社会脆弱性指数。使用描述性统计和空间回归模型的组合，分析侧重于补贴住房和野火危害的交叉点。结果表明，在加利福尼亚的大都市区和非大都市区，补贴住房不成比例地位于 WUI 之外。然而，政策干预是必要的，因为许多弱势家庭——包括居住在 WUI 的 140,000 个补贴单元中的那些——生活在危险之中。结果表明，在加利福尼亚的大都市区和非大都市区，补贴住房不成比例地位于 WUI 之外。然而，政策干预是必要的，因为许多弱势家庭——包括那些居住在 WUI 的 140,000 个补贴单元中的家庭——生活在危险之中。结果表明，在加利福尼亚的大都市区和非大都市区，补贴住房不成比例地位于 WUI 之外。然而，政策干预是必要的，因为许多弱势家庭——包括居住在 WUI 的 140,000 个补贴单元中的那些——生活在危险之中。