Human Impact Partners Evidence Base
Articles in Home ownership is associated with health benefits.
In the short term, the wealth accumulation associated with homeownership improves access to neighborhoods with more health promoting assets, such as grocery stores, places to exercise, good schools, and so on, as well as to higher quality housing.
Sundquist J, Johansson SE. Indicators of socioeconomic position and their relation to mortality in Sweden. Soc Sci Med. 1997;45(12):1757-1766.
Relative to renters, homeowners have better physical health outcomes, lower child unintentional injury rates, higher self-esteem and lower levels of distress, and more positive mental health, which is associated with lower blood pressure.
Macintyre S, Ellaway A, Der G, Ford G, Hunt K. Do housing tenure and car access predict health because they are simply markers of income of self-esteem?: a Scottish study. J Epidiol Community Health. 1998;52(1): 657- 664.
Shenassa E, Stubbendick A, Brown, MJ. Social disparities in housing and related pediatric injury: a multilevel study. Am J Public Health. 2004;94(4):633-639.
Cairney J, Boyle MH. Home ownership, mortgages and psychological distress. Housing Stud. 2004;19(2):161-174.
Rossi P, Weber E. The social benefits of homeownership: empirical evidence from national surveys. Housing Pol Debate. 1996;7(1):1-35.The benefits of homeownership accrue independent of socioeconomic status, such that poor homeowners have better health outcomes than poor renters.
Cairney J, Boyle MH. Home ownership, mortgages and psychological distress. Housing Stud. 2004:19(2):161-174.
Positive health-related social outcomes are also observed among the children of homeowners. For instance, they are more likely to graduate from high school and score higher on standardized tests than the children of renters.
Herbert C, Belsky E. The homeownership experience of low-income and minority families: a review and synthesis of the literature. Washington, DC: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research; 2006. Available at: http://www.huduser.org/Publications/PDF/hisp_homeown9.pdf. Accessed July 7, 2009.
High rates of homeownership are associated with neighborhood well-being. Homeowners are more likely to be active in community associations and to vote than their renting counterparts in a given geographic area.
Herbert C, Belsky E. The homeownership experience of low-income and minority families: a review and synthesis of the literature. Washington, DC: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research; 2006. Available at: http://www.huduser.org/Publications/PDF/hisp_homeown9.pdf. Accessed July 7, 2009.
Homeownership increases stress as the size of the associated mortgage increases.
Cairney J, Boyle MH. Home ownership, mortgages and psychological distress. Housing Stud. 2004;19(2):161-174.
Investment in homeownership has been the primary long-term strategy to build wealth in the United States, and wealth is one of the strongest determinants of health.
Huie B, Patrick SA, Krueger M, Rogers RG, Hummer RA. Wealth, race, and mortality. Soc Sci Q. 2003;84(3):667-84.
Wenzlow AT, Mullahy J, Robert SA, Wolfe BL. An empirical investigation of the relationship between wealth and health using the survey of consumer finances. Working Paper. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation. Available at: http://www.russellsage.org/publications/workingpapers. Accessed July 7, 2009.Nationwide, the percentage of Whites who own their homes is about 75%, whereas homeownership rates for African Americans and Latinos is about 47%.
Williams DR, Collins C. Racial residential segregation: a fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. Public Health Rep. 2001;116:404-417.