Map Details – Opportunities for Partnering and Education: Texas Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and the Texas Tobacco Quitline

Impact Statement

Following the 2018 implementation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) smoke-free public housing rule, many residents of public housing authorities (PHAs) in Texas could benefit from tobacco cessation education and support. This map shows that few Texas PHA residents are utilizing the Texas Tobacco Quitline (TTQL), a free, state-funded resource that provides support to Texas residents who want to quit smoking. Within the timeframe displayed on the map, there does not appear to be a pattern of a higher number of calls where there are more stringent policies.

This map displays the number of calls made to the TTQL from Texas public housing authority residents, by county, January through June 2019. PHAs are displayed by the level of their smoke-free policy as of October 2018. Most counties did not have any calls by PHA residents to the TTQL in this time frame. Among most counties with calls by PHA residents, the number of calls ranged from 1 to 50 calls. Four counties had between 51 and 100 calls, two counties had between 101 and 200 calls and three counties had more than 200 calls. The top three counties were Harris County, Bexar County, and Dallas County.

View Larger

The HUD smoke-free public housing rule went into effect in July 2018. In summer 2018, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) conducted a project with PHAs to provide support and education about ‘enhancing’ their smoke-free policies to include more stringent provisions than were required by HUD. Additionally, UTEP provided the PHAs with information on various smoking cessation resources available to their residents. One resource provided was the Texas Tobacco Quitline, a state-funded, free service that provides cessation counseling and free nicotine replacement therapy to qualified callers.

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) assessed the relationship between PHA’s smoke-free policies and the number of calls to the TTQL from PHA residents to determine if number of calls differed by level of smoke-free policy. Most Texas counties had no calls by PHA residents to the TTQL during this time. Of counties with PHA resident calls, most ranged between one to 50 calls. Three counties (Harris, Bexar, and Dallas) had more than two hundred calls from PHA residents. The lack of a clear association between number of calls to the TTQL and level of smoke-free policy may indicate a need to further educate PHA administrators and PHA residents about the free resources available through the TTQL.

ArcGIS

Texas Tobacco Quitline Data: Optum, Inc.
University of Texas at El Paso: https://www.utep.edu/txsmokefreepublichousing/Database/index.html; Public Housing Authority Smoke-Free Policy Levels, Updated 10/3/2018

Only Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) that submitted their smoke-free policies to UTEP are displayed on the map (79 out of 382 PHAs), with different symbols indicating the different policy levels. Smoke-free policies were classified into five levels by UTEP. Level one represents PHAs that did not meet the minimum HUD requirements at the time of the survey; these are not shown on the map. Level two represents PHAs that meet the minimum HUD requirements. Levels three to five represent PHAs with ‘enhanced’ policies that include more stringent provisions than HUD requires. Graduated colors show the number of calls per county by PHA residents to the TTQL.

Danielle Hodgson, MPH, Texas Department of State Health Services

Danielle Hodgson, MPH, Texas Department of State Health Services. Accessed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Chronic Disease GIS Exchange https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/maps/gisx/mapgallery/tx-public-housing.html