healthy neighborhoods
Socially cohesive, vibrant neighborhoods allow people to connect with each other, safely walk and bike, access healthy food and other things they need, and enjoy parks and open space.
Community members and partners consistently noted insufficient affordable housing as a key health issue for SLO County – affecting everything from household budgets to workforce recruitment. Additionally, they identified access to safe community spaces, like parks, and the bike and pedestrian networks to connect them, as a key issue. The CHIP workgroup noted, for this priority area in particular, a place-based approach was necessary to understand and address the specific and unique needs of certain communities.
GOal 1 -
Promote healthy, connected Communities
1.1 Using a place-based approach, conduct a needs assessment to understand high-priority communities and their built environment needs (e.g. complete streets, food access, park access).
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1.2 Assess current food environments and map out food retailers/service providers, poverty status, ethnicity, and unhealthy food density.
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1.3 Assess environments for physical activity and map opportunities (e.g. parks, sidewalks, bike paths) in priority cities and communities.
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1.4 Identify existing community assets, like schools, nonprofits and coalitions, and work with them to understand their feasibility as multigenerational, multicultural, and multilingual centers of complete communities (e.g. community resource centers, climate resilience center, community schools).
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1.5 Assist cities and local governments adopting or enhancing built environment policies (e.g. Complete or Livable Streets Policies).
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1.6 Share opportunities for and provide technical assistance to grants for parks and free, community spaces for those with limited options.
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1.7 Share opportunities for and provide technical assistance to grants for bike and pedestrian infrastructure or programming in high-priority communities, including Safe Routes to School (SRTS).
Objective 1: Increase investment in healthy, connected communities through bike and pedestrian improvements, enhanced food access, and free, safe community spaces.
GOal 2 -
Improve access to affordable, attainable, safe and supportive housing
Objective 1: Support the development of very low income, low income, and moderate housing units throughout SLO County, with a goal of staying on track annually with regional housing targets (RHNA).
1.1 Submit comment letters when new housing developments come before government bodies (planning commissions, city council meetings etc.)
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1.2 Develop an inventory of housing stability and health best practices and policies to build on the work of local housing policy makers.
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1.3 Utilize the Healthy Communities Project Checklist for assessing housing-related development projects from a healthy community’s perspective.
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1.4 Participate in partnership and policy conversations around housing (e.g. REACH housing advisory group, Home Builders Association of the Central Coast, SLOCOG RTP process)
GOal 3 -
ENSURE CLIMATE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES
Objective 1: Increase community resilience by understanding, and preparing for, the impacts of climate change.
1.1 Conduct needs assessment to identify most pressing needs in SLO County around climate change.
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1.2 Increase investment in community resilience of those most disproportionately impacted by climate change through implementing strategies prioritized by community stakeholders.