Grant: Catalyst Grant: CPHO Report - General Pool

Extreme temperatures have a significant impact on human health. Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related illness and death in Canada, causing more than 600 deaths during the 2021 Western Heat Dome. Extreme cold is also a serious problem, killing more than 80 people each year in Canada, and causing frostbite and other injuries for countless more. People who are unhoused or living in subsidized housing (e.g., single room occupancy units), including seniors, are known to be more vulnerable to extreme temperature-related dangers - demonstrating that both housing security and quality matter. Although there are warming and cooling centres, they are under-used in metro Vancouver. To understand how to better meet the needs of people who may use these extreme temperature shelters, we will interview those most at risk - people who are unhoused, or live in subsidized housing, including seniors - about their experiences with extreme heat and cold, whether they make use of warming/cooling centres, as well as how to improve or transform these services. We will also talk to shelter providers to understand what their needs are to improve services. The findings will help address the growing need to better match user needs and provider capacities around extreme temperatures. This is an urgent issue as the impacts of extreme temperatures on priority populations are becoming a bigger and more frequent threat because of climate change. This project will be carried out together with community partner organizations, which will help amplify existing community knowledge and allow for more effective implementation of community-driven solutions. We are also bringing together different health-related government organizations, which will help push research findings into action. Furthermore, through a research report-back workshop, we provide an opportunity for community members to directly communicate to decision makers about project findings based on their lived experiences.