This study seeks to understand racial and ethnic disparities in both the health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and a particularly under-acknowledged social consequence, utility insecurity in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We examine these disparities using administrative data from public health agencies, utility companies, and primary data collected from hundreds of Pennsylvanians through surveys and focus groups.

We find that a breadth of vulnerabilities faced by all Pennsylvania residents are particularly acute for racial and ethnic minorities. Low-income, Black, and Latinx residents are more likely to be rent-burdened and pay more money toward their utility bills than their counterparts. They are also more likely to experience utility insecurity. Areas with higher concentrations of minority residents have much higher rates of utility arrears and disconnections as well as much higher rates of enrollment in utility assistance programs. In addition, roughly three-quarters of Black and Latinx survey respondents reported falling behind on rent or mortgage payments

since March, and one-third of Black residents reported being either formally or informally evicted and were the most likely to worry about future evictions and utility shutoffs. We also found that communities with higher non-white shares of the population were hit hardest by the coronavirus, especially in the early months. The relationship between virus prevalence and race became less pronounced as the virus became more ubiquitous through the fall and winter.