# Revitalization vs. relocation: impacts of community development on opioid and other drug abuse

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $204,688

## Abstract

Project Summary
For more than two decades, U.S. affordable housing policy has centered on redeveloping public housing
complexes into mixed-income communities and providing public housing residents with vouchers to relocate to
subsidized housing in the private housing market. The health impacts of this housing strategy have been
evaluated in studies that neither investigate their impacts on opioid and other drug abuse in contexts where
there have been longstanding opioid epidemics, nor have they determined whether relocating to other
neighborhoods, including to those with better amenities, is more beneficial to health than remaining in
communities that are redeveloping. The proposed study will be among the first prospective investigations of
the impacts of public housing redevelopment on opioid and other drug abuse and related health outcomes
(e.g., HIV, HCV, mental disorders) among residents who remain in a redeveloping community (n=125) and
residents who relocate from a redeveloping community (n=125), relative to residents who remain in a non-
redeveloping comparison public housing community (n=125). We will adapt and refine our recruitment and
retention strategies to establish the three sub-cohorts of public housing residents and apply rigorous (e.g.,
propensity scores) and innovative methodologies (e.g., walking ethnographies) to accomplish the following
specific aims: Aim 1a: Assess similarities and differences in opioid and other drug abuse, related health
outcomes (HCV, HIV, mental disorders), health service use (e.g., drug treatment), and micro-level
environmental conditions (e.g., social, housing, neighborhood) among the three sub-samples of public housing
residents prior to redevelopment (e.g., new construction, relocation, etc.) Aim 1b: Evaluate initial impacts of
residing in the redeveloping community and of relocating from the redeveloping community, relative to residing
in the non-developing community on opioid and other drug abuse and related outcomes, one-year post
enrollment Aim 2: Elicit narratives on micro-level environmental conditions and health among 20 adults from
each sub-cohort prior to redevelopment and one-year post enrollment. By accomplishing these aims we will
establish sub-cohorts for a novel R01 that will strengthen evidence on the impact of affordable housing policies
on opioid and other drug abuse and related outcomes, and inform how future housing policies in Baltimore and
other cities can be designed to be more health-promoting. The strong team of collaborators with expertise in
establishing cohorts of hard-to-reach populations and public housing residents, ethnographic research, and
causal inference, will increase feasibility, rigor and successful achievement of the proposed aims.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10020196
- **Project number:** 5R21MD014627-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sabriya L Linton
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $204,688
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-17 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10020196

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10020196, Revitalization vs. relocation: impacts of community development on opioid and other drug abuse (5R21MD014627-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10020196. Licensed CC0.

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