Health Effects After Renovation (HEAR) Study: Community-Engaged Inquiry Into the Health and Social Impacts of the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program Implementation in San Francisco

In this article, we share our mixed-methods community-engaged approach to study the association between public housing renovation funded through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program and the health status and outcomes of the residents living in RAD developments. RAD addresses the nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance at public housing properties. Using address-based queries of electronic health records from 2006–2019, this study will measure the healthcare utilization and clinical health status of residents living in RAD sites pre and post renovation and compare them with nonpublic housing residents living in proximity to RAD developments over the same time period. Applying the principles of community-engaged research, we use in-depth interviews to explore the lived experience of renovation and its impacts on residents’ health and how policymakers and housing developers factor considerations of resident health into their decisions around renovation and redevelopment. Using a prospective, mixed-methods approach that captures both clinical and experiential data will bring into clearer focus the actual health burdens that public housing residents bear, and the health benefits that investment in public housing renovation may bring.