Proximity to Public & Human Services

The ability to effectively access public and human services when they are needed is essential for population health and well-being and for functioning communities. Public services like post offices are part of the everyday fabric of our society. We rely on other public services, like fire, police, and ambulances, to be available to us in emergencies. Meanwhile, many of the region’s residents, particularly those with low-incomes, rely on human services to meet their basic needs on a daily basis.  

Geographic proximity is only one component of access to public and human services, but it is the only component that we can effectively map. (Other factors include levels of service availability, cultural appropriateness of the services, hours of operation, and eligibility criteria.) In the case of public safety and emergency services, proximity can also affect response times, which can significantly impact the services’ effectiveness. Living or working in close proximity to services that residents use regularly can also promote walking, biking, and transit use, which improves health and reduces vehicle trips.

This map series includes maps showing (a) proximity to public services such as police, fire, hospitals, government agencies, and post offices; (b) proximity to human services such as housing services and services for seniors, persons with disabilities, and youth; (c) a composite heatmap that combines proximity to both public and human services; and (d) a version of the composite map that shows proximity by neighborhood.

What the Maps Tell Us: Initial Findings

The Proximity to Public and Human Services Composite map indicates that proximity to public and human services tends to be highest in neighborhoods close to downtown Portland and in other close-in cities like Lake Oswego and Vancouver. 

The Atlas mapping tool can be used to assign a proximity score to every neighborhood in the region based on the average proximity of every block in the neighborhood to public and human services. A score of “5” indicates proximities within ¼ mile, while a score of “1” or below indicates proximities greater than 1 mile. The ten neighborhoods across the region with the highest proximity to human and public services are:

Neighborhood

Location

Proximity to Public Services

Proximity to Human and Social Services

Portland

5.00

5.00

Hough

Vancouver

4.51

4.80

Evergreen

Lake Oswego

4.55

4.61

Downtown

Portland

4.37

4.66

Grant Park/Hollywood

Portland

3.93

5.00

Arnada

Vancouver

3.79

5.00

Waluga

Lake Oswego

3.83

4.92

King

Portland

3.94

4.56

Old Town/Chinatown

Portland

4.17

4.34

Rose City Park

Portland

3.95

4.58

While proximity to public services such as post offices is likely correlated with population densities, commercial zoning, and levels of urbanization, one would expect proximity to public services such as Department of Human Services offices, and proximity to most human and social services to be related to the locations of the populations most likely to use those services. In general, we would expect populations in poverty to be the most likely clients of these services. But an examination of the top ten list above suggests little relationship between the locations of populations in poverty and the locations of services. Certainly some of these neighborhoods, such as King and downtown Portland, have high percentages of populations in poverty, but many of these neighborhoods, such as Evergreen and Waluga, are not high poverty neighborhoods. The fact that they have such high proximity to public, human, and social services is an interesting phenomenon that would be worth further exploration.

A similar pattern exists even when looking at the ten neighborhoods with the highest proximity to just human and social services:

Neighborhood

Location

Proximity to Human and Social Services

Hazelwood/Mill Park

Portland

5.00

Grant Park/Hollywood

Portland

5.00

Arnada

Vancouver

5.00

Hollywood

Portland

5.00

Multnomah County Unclaimed #6 (west of the Hollywood District)

Portland

5.00

Forest Park/Northwest District

Portland

5.00

Goose Hollow

Portland

4.94

Shumway

Vancouver

4.93

Waluga

Lake Oswego

4.92

Vernon

Portland

4.87

Some of these neighborhoods have high levels of poverty, but many do not. The list suggests that some neighborhoods may have high proximity to human and social services because of their central location (e.g. Goose Hollow), proximity to transit (e.g. Hollywood), or because they were once high poverty neighborhoods that have undergone subsequent demographic changes (e.g. Northwest District).

The flip side of this analysis would be to look at how the highest poverty areas in the region fare in terms of proximity to public, human, and social services. Data on neighborhood poverty levels is only available by census tract. The ten census tracts with the highest poverty rates in the region are listed below. While some of the census tracts on this list have good access to services, quite a few of them, such as those highlighted in yellow, have extremely low proximity to public, human, and social services.

Census Tract

Location

Proximity to Public Services

Proximity to Human and Social Services

41051010600

Downtown Portland

4.48

4.50

41051003301

Northeast Portland

4.18

4.70

53011042700

Vancouver

2.40

3.86

53011041600

Vancouver

3.55

4.18

41051009606

Gresham

4.07

4.10

41051003401

Northeast Portland

3.59

4.99

53011041005

Vancouver

0.68

0.80

41067033200

Forest Grove

1.43

2.12

53011041111

Vancouver

3.24

3.50

41051009301

Outer East Portland

1.44

3.73

The Atlas mapping tool can be used for this type of analysis to help inform decisions about where to site public, human, and social services, as well as to identify areas that are already rich in services and therefore offer better access to opportunity for low-income residents.

About the Maps

Proximity to Public Services

This map displays proximity to various public services compiled from point data in the Metro RLIS dataset for city halls, fire station, and hospitals. This was supplemented by a list of services classified via NAICS codes (North American Industry Classification System) as courts, police protection, fire protection, government executive offices, and postal service
 
Data Source: ESRI Business Analyst (2010); Metro RLIS (2012)

Proximity to Human and Social Services

This map displays proximity to various human and social services defined via NAICS codes (North American Industry Classification System) as individual and family services, child and youth services, services for seniors and persons with disabilities, temporary shelters, and other community housing services. These data do not fully capture all of the human and social services in the region due to limitations in the availability of comprehensive, up-to-date, address-level data on these services. 

Data Source: ESRI Business Analyst (2010)

Proximity to Public and Human Services Composite Heatmap

This map combines the proximity scores from the Proximity to Public Services and the Proximity to Human Services maps to create a composite heatmap.
 
Data Source: ESRI Business Analyst (2010); Metro RLIS (2012)

Proximity to Public and Human Services Composite Neighborhood Map

This map uses the same underlying data as the Proximity to Public and Human Services Heatmap, but instead of showing the data as a heatmap it aggregates the data by neighborhood. The darker the neighborhood, the higher its proximity score. 

Data Source: ESRI Business Analyst (2010); Metro RLIS (2012)

*Some neighborhood boundaries overlap. The Atlas refers to the areas within the overlapping boundaries by the names of both neighborhoods.