NY25-08: Exploring Energy Burden Among Older Adults and People with Disabilities in New York City Public Housing Communities

The goal of this proposal is to investigate the energy burden faced by older adults (ages 62 and older) and people with disabilities in New York City to better understand its impact on their well-being. Energy burden, characterized by more than 6% of household disposable income (Drehobl et al., 2020) allocated to energy expenses, affects socio-economically vulnerable populations, particularly older adults and people with disabilities who often rely on fixed incomes from Social Security. These individuals are sensitive to temperature changes and thus to rising heating and cooling costs and tend to have heightened dependence on energy-consuming medical devices. Our mixed-methods approach involves selecting 10 public housing developments in NYC, facilitating targeted outreach to survey 100 individuals who are older adults and people with disabilities, receive social security benefits and diverse in race, ethnicity, and sex. We will then conduct in-depth interviews with 10 older adults and 10 people with disabilities from this surveyed group. Our quantitative analysis will offer a broad perspective, examining the impact of factors like inflation on energy burden, while the qualitative component will provide insights into lived experiences and coping strategies, particularly regarding expenses related to cooling and use of medical devices.  The study will provide new insights and data for Social Security policymakers and researchers seeking to understand the energy needs and burden of older adults and people with disabilities living on fixed incomes. Our study of energy burden in NYC public housing communities directly speaks to the economic insecurities and service needs of low-income urban Social Security beneficiaries, a large, diverse, and traditionally underserved population. The findings will help identify beneficiaries likely to face energy burden and develop policies to assist them, thereby improving their well-being and the systemic equity in NYC and beyond.