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Exploring the lifecycle of housing assistance’s economic and health impacts, from application to long-term follow-up

Friday, November 14, 1:45 to 3:15pm, Property: Hyatt Regency Seattle, Floor: 6th Floor, Room: 609 - Yakima

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Given the pivotal role that housing plays as a social determinant of health, HUD housing assistance is an important public health tool with far-reaching impacts. Such housing assistance can take on many forms, from traditional public housing developments to rental assistance programs. In this panel, researchers explore the impacts of these programs in greater depth by expanding both the timeframe of analysis as well as the populations studied. 


Fenelon and co-authors focus on the long-term health and economic effects of the US public housing program by constructing a unique dataset identifying all public housing residents in the 1940 census. Individuals are then linked to the 2000 census longform and compared to a control population to ascertain public housing’s impact on educational attainment, functional disability, and homeownership. Shlesinger and co-authors turn to a different timeframe of analysis by focusing on the period preceding housing assistance. This work examines the mental health consequences of waiting for rental assistance, highlighting the implications of the waitlist itself. They find that the stress and lack of control inherent in an ambiguous waitlist status can exacerbate chronic health conditions. Pollack and co-authors examine the health impacts of different types of housing assistance, focusing on how such assistance may impact the timing of a cancer diagnosis and ensuing morbidity and mortality rates. Findings show that federal housing assistance is associated with earlier-stage diagnosis for breast, colorectal, and NSCL cancer, highlighting the potential role of housing assistance in mitigating the adverse effects of housing insecurity on cancer outcomes. Finally, Smith and co-authors investigate the relationship between rental assistance and children’s healthcare outcomes, focusing specifically on changes in Medicaid enrollment rates and healthcare usage in the years immediately following assistance receipt. This work uncovers that children whose families’ received housing vouchers had a higher likelihood of children enrolling in Medicaid compared to children on the waitlist, emphasizing the role that housing voucher receipt in promoting children’s insurance coverage.


Through exploring specific populations with different lengths of exposure to housing assistance, these papers expand our understanding of the individual-level health implications of housing programs and highlight the role housing plays in public health initiatives more generally.

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