As cities, including San Antonio, continue to battle prolonged heat into October, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a strategy to curb extreme heat and offer clear guidance on active mitigation efforts.
The 77-page document released on Sept. 23 does not explicitly apply to one city or region; rather, according to HUD, it presents strategies for implementing advice for local scenarios.
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Federal funding sources for heat mitigation projects are listed, along with a breakdown of how current funding is being used nationwide to build heat resilience.
“Far too many Americans are being impacted by the harmful effects of extreme heat,” HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman said in a news release. “The best practices we are sharing today, advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s national heat strategy and will move us closer towards safer housing, particularly for seniors.”
To put the nation’s extreme heat in perspective, last Tuesday, Palm Springs, California, reached 117 degrees, setting a new October record and matching the highest temperature ever documented in the United States in October, according to a report from Vox.
Meanwhile, back home in San Antonio, a more noticeable fall cold front might not arrive until mid-to-late October.
In mid-August, the federal government released a new national heat strategy, according to a news release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The strategy emphasizes a clear approach to heat planning, response and resilience.
HUD’s release is part of advancing a national heat strategy, described as a “whole-of-government” approach to combatting extreme heat.
Heat mitigation measures at the local level
San Antonio began piloting a Google heat resilience tool powered by artificial intelligence in mid-September. The tool addresses extreme heat by applying AI to satellite and aerial imagery.
Extreme heat, a common derivative of climate change, is often a driver of heat vulnerability in communities, especially in San Antonio.
Last year, researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Southwest Research Insitute began work on the city’s West Side to measure felt heat; a complete way to measure heat accounts for additional metrics that aim to capture how people experience heat, one of the researchers said.
Researchers found residents on the West Side, specifically, were disproportionately feeling the effects of extreme heat. A cause for this is a lack of tree coverage in the area — with fewer trees, the paved surfaces absorb heat and drive up temperatures.
The UTSA study and the Google tool are both attempting to curb the urban heat island effect, a key point in the city’s Office of Sustainability 2023 annual report.
Another method the city is actively employing to mitigate extreme heat is installing cool pavement in some parts of the city.
The HUD playbook can be viewed below: