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Evidence Base Home » Housing » Unaffordable housing is a consequence and cause of poverty--Higher rents mean that a family cannot spend as much on other life needs

Articles in Unaffordable housing is a consequence and cause of poverty. Higher rents mean that a family cannot spend as much on other life needs.

  • Spending on housing decreases money available for other basic living needs - food, medication, clothing.

    Bhatia R, Guzman C. The case for housing impacts assessment: the human health and social impacts of inadequate housing and their consideration in CEQA policy and practice. San Francisco, CA: Department of Public Health; 2004.

  • Many households use over half their income on housing.

    Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The state of the nation's housing: 2006. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University; 2006. Available at: http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/markets/son2006/son2006.pdf. Accessed July 2, 2009.

  • Affordable housing: housing stock that is affordable, at 30% of income, to the third of renter households with incomes of $16,000 or less. Rents of $400 or less. The inventory nationally of these units has plunged by 1.2 million from 1993-2003.

    Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The state of the nation's housing: 2006. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University; 2006. Available at: http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/markets/son2006/son2006.pdf. Accessed July 2, 2009.

  • Low paying jobs and high housing costs - most often cited reason for hunger.

    Sandel M, Sharfstein J, Shaw R. There's no place like home: how America's housing crisis threatens our children. San Francisco, CA: Housing America; 1999.

  • According to research from the US and Canada, higher levels of food insecurity have been associated with an increasing percentage of income spent on housing.

    Scott RI, Wehler CA. Food insecurity/food insufficiency: an empirical examination of alternative measures of food problems in impoverished US households. Institute for Research on Poverty, Discussion Paper No 1176-98. 1998. Available at: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp117698.pdf. Accessed July 2, 2009.
    Kirkpatrick SI, Tarasuk V. Adequacy of food spending is related to housing expenditures among lower-income Canadian households. Public Health Nutr. 2007;10(12):1464-73.
    Lee BA, Greif MJ. Homelessness and hunger. J Health Soc Behav. 2008;49:3-19.

  • One study specifies that in the lowest income quintile, 68% were unable to meet a food spending adequacy guideline.

    Kirkpatrick SI, Tarasuk V. Adequacy of food spending is related to housing expenditures among lower-income Canadian households. Public Health Nutr. 2007;10(12):1464-73.

  • The USDA determined that median housing costs can predict food insecurity on a state-level; i.e., the higher the median cost of housing, the more likely a family is to not be able to consistently feed itself.

    Bartfeld J, Dunifon R. State-level predictors of food insecurity and hunger among households with children. Contractor and Cooperator Report No 13. 2005. Available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/CCR13/ccr13.pdf. Accessed July 2, 2009.

  • Higher rents, especially for low-income families, limit the amount that a family can spend on other life needs, such as food, clothing, medication, health care and family activities that provide exercise and emotional stability.

    Bashir SA. Home is where the harm is: inadequate housing as a public health crisis. Am J Public Health. 2002; 92(5):733-738.

  • Research has also found significant associations between unaffordable rent, and inadequate childhood nutrition and growth.

    Sharfstein J, Sandel M, Kahn R, Bauchner H. Is child health at risk while families wait for housing vouchers? Am J Public Health. 2001;91:1191–1192.

  • The type of housing in which low-income families reside, such as whether a family lives in owner occupied housing, privately rented housing, or public housing has a significant relationship to their health, and therefore can adversely affect their health outcomes.

    Bashir SA. Home is where the harm is: inadequate housing as a public health crisis. Am J Public Health. 2002; 92(5):733-738.

  • In some cases this is a result of landlords lacking resources or desire to adequately maintain housing.

    Bashir SA. Home is where the harm is: inadequate housing as a public health crisis. Am J Public Health. 2002; 92(5):733-738.

  • Tenants who may be afraid to complain about poor housing conditions are left to suffer the health consequences of exposure to indoor air pollution and other conditions associated with substandard housing.

    Bashir SA. Home is where the harm is: inadequate housing as a public health crisis. Am J Public Health. 2002; 92(5):733-738.

  • The stress due to a lack of affordable housing is associated with a greater likelihood of developing hypertension, lower levels of psychological well-being, and increased visits to the doctor.

    Matthews KA, Kiefe CI, Lewis CE, Liu K, Sidney S, Yunis C. Socioeconomic trajectories and incident hypertension in a biracial cohort of young adults. Hypertension. 2002;39:772-776.
    Nettleton S, Burrows R. Mortgage debt, insecure home ownership and health: an exploratory analysis. Sociol Health Illn. 1998;20(5):731-753.

  • Many households unable to secure affordable housing are forced to dedicate more than 30% of their monthly income to housing, a situation known as cost-burden. Cost-burdened households have less disposable income for the prerequisites for good health—health insurance, nutritious food, childcare, and other important goods and services.

    Lipman BJ. Something’s gotta give: working families and the cost of housing. Washington, DC: Center for Housing Policy; 2005.

  • Low-income families in subsidized housing, either receiving housing vouchers or living in public housing, are more likely to obtain necessary medical care than those with comparable incomes living in unsubsidized and unaffordable housing.

    Wang L, Beecroft E, Khadduri J, Patterson R. Impacts of welfare reform on recipients of housing assistance: evidence from Indiana and Delaware. Bethesda,MD:US Department of Housing and Urban Development;2003. Available at: http://www.huduser.org/publications/commdevl/welfare_reform.html. Accessed July 2, 2009.

  • Children in low-income families that lack housing subsidies are more likely to have iron deficiencies and to be underweight than children in similar families receiving housing subsidies.

    Meyers A, Rubin D, Napoleone M, Nichols K. Public housing subsidies may improve poor children’s nutrition. Am J Public Health. 1993;83(1):115-119.
    Meyers A, Cutts D, et al. Subsidized housing and children’s nutritional status: data from a multisite surveillance study. Arch Pediatr Adolescent Med. 2005;159:551-556.

  • Subsidized affordable housing for special needs populations has also been shown to partially or even fully pay for itself through reduced utilization of emergency services.

    Subsidized affordable housing for special needs populations has also been shown to partially or even fully pay for itself through reduced utilization of emergency services.

    Martinez T, Burt M. Impact of permanent supportive housing on the use of acute health services by homeless adults. Psychiatr Serv. 2006;57(7): 992-999.
    Buchanan D, Doblin B, Sai T, Garcia P. The effects of respite care for homeless patients: a cohort study. Am J Public Health. 2006;4(19):19-26.

  • Poverty limits access to important health-enabling resources, including proper nutrition, good medical care, stable health insurance, and favorable housing.

    Iton, A. Tackling the root causes of health disparities through community capacity building. In: Hofrichter R, ed. Tackling Health Inequities Through Public Health Practice: A Handbook for Action. Washington, DC: The National Association of County & City Health Officials and The Ingham County Health Department. 2006: 115-136. Available at: http://www.naccho.org/topics/justice/documents/NACCHO_Handbook_hyperlinks_000.pdf. Accessed July 2, 2009.

  • According to the California Coalition for Rural Housing, inclusionary housing has the potential to create at least 15,000 units of affordable housing annually in California, nearly doubling the current rate of affordable housing production in the state.

    California Coalition for Rural Housing and Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, 2003. Inclusionary housing in California: 30 years of innovation. Available at: http://www.calruralhousing.org/sites/default/files/Inclusionary30Years.pdf. Accessed July 2, 2009.

  • Research shows that overpayment on housing is linked to food insecurity, especially in households with children.

    Lipman BJ. Something’s gotta give: working families and the cost of housing. Washington, DC: Center for Housing Policy; 2005.

  • Foreclosures can lead to community decline. One study found that an increase of 2.8 foreclosures for every 100 owner-occupied properties was associated with a 6.7% increase in violent crimes in those neighborhoods.

    Beyers M, Brown J, Cho S, et al. Life and death from unnatural causes: health and social inequity in Alameda County. Oakland, CA: Alameda County Public Health Department; 2008.
    ACORN Fair Housing. Foreclosure exposure: a study of racial and income disparities in home mortgage lending in 172 American cities. Chicago, IL: ACORN Housing Corporation; 2007.