Research shows the link between housing affordability and health outcomes

Utah currently suffers from a housing crisis. While this crisis directly affects people’s ability to secure affordable quality housing, the indirect impacts could be more long-term and potentially long-lasting. A new policy brief from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah summarizes research detailing how housing affordability has both direct and indirect impacts on health outcomes.

“Lower-quality housing and neighborhood conditions can lead to negative health outcomes, and higher housing costs reduce individuals’ and families’ ability to pay for necessities such as health care,” said Melanie Beagley, public policy analyst at the Gardner Institute and lead author of the report. “By addressing the state’s housing crisis, Utah is also investing in the health of its residents.”

According to the report, the impact of housing on health, while complex, can be understood through three distinct yet interconnected pathways: housing conditions, neighborhood conditions and housing affordability.

Housing Conditions. Lower-quality housing (e.g., homes with lead risk, water leaks, incomplete kitchen and bathroom facilities and pest infestations) correlates with worse health outcomes. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that more than 7,100 households in Utah are in homes without adequate kitchen facilities and over 3,200 households live without adequate plumbing.

Neighborhood Conditions. Research similarly finds that the neighborhood in which a person lives can have profound implications for their health. Unsafe neighborhoods and resource-poor communities lacking safe spaces for exercise, access to jobs or grocery stores with healthy foods experience worse mental and physical health outcomes, whereas safer neighborhoods and resource-rich communities experience better health outcomes.

Housing Affordability. Housing affordability both directly and indirectly affects health outcomes. Direct effects can be observed when a larger portion of a household’s income is dedicated to housing, leaving less income to spend on other basic expenditures such as health care. In Utah, 40 percent of renters and nearly 18 percent of homeowners are housing cost-burdened, with most low-income households experiencing housing cost-burden.

The full policy brief can be accessed through the Gardner Institute website at gardner.utah.edu.