Rental Assistance and Adult Self-Rated Health

Overview

Journal J Health Care Poor Underserved

Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press

Date 2020 Feb 11

PMID 32037334

Citations 14

Authors

Danya E Keene

Linda Niccolai

Alana Rosenberg

Penelope Schlesinger

Kim M Blankenship

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Rental assistance, in the form of vouchers and project-based subsidized housing, is a primary source of affordable housing for low-income Americans, given a growing and severe shortage of private-market rental units. However, due to supply constraints, fewer than one in four eligible households receive this kind of assistance. In this paper, we examine associations between receipt of rental assistance and self-rated health among a sample of 400 low-income adults in one U.S. city. We find that individuals who currently receive rental assistance have lower odds of reporting poor or fair self-rated health than individuals who are currently on rental assistance waiting lists. These relationships persist after adjusting for factors that affect access to rental assistance and are not significantly modified by criminal justice history. Our findings suggest that the current unmet need for rental assistance may contribute to poor health among low-income Americans.

Citing Articles

Housing insecurity pathways to physiological and epigenetic manifestations of health among aging adults: a conceptual model.

Bhat A, Fenelon A, Almeida D Front Public Health. 2025; 13:1485371.

PMID: 39916715 PMC: 11799248. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1485371.

The long-term effects of housing insecurity in young adulthood on subsequent material hardship, physiological and mental health.

Roberts M, Bhat A, Fenelon A Soc Sci Med. 2025; 367:117761.

PMID: 39874838 PMC: 11854551. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117761.

Associations between Recession Hardships and Subjective and Objective Sleep Measures in the Midlife in the United States Study: Race and Gender Differences.

Bhat A, Diaz J, Lee S, Almeida D, Lee S Front Sleep. 2024; 3.

PMID: 39583086 PMC: 11580659. DOI: 10.3389/frsle.2024.1403818.

Rental Housing Deposits and Health Care Use.

Knox M, Hernandez E, Ahern J, Brown D, Rodriguez H, Fleming M JAMA Health Forum. 2024; 5(9):e242802.

PMID: 39240580 PMC: 11380099. DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2024.2802.

Race, housing policy, and the demographic and spatial structure of modern housing programs: Who receives rental assistance and where do they live?.

Fenelon A J Urban Aff. 2024; 46(5):944-961.

PMID: 39045095 PMC: 11262546. DOI: 10.1080/07352166.2022.2103426.

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