Affording Housing at the Expense of Health: Exploring the Housing and Neighborhood Strategies of Poor Families

• In Event: 399 - Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Health Inequality: Tracing Trends and Theorizing Processes

Abstract

Low-income families often simultaneously encounter housing and neighborhood problems including safety, affordability and quality issues that necessitate strategies which maximize limited budgets and ensure safety. These constrained decisions regarding inadequate housing and neighborhood conditions, however, may create or exacerbate health risks. Building on the survival strategies literature, this paper offers rich and detailed accounts of coping and management strategies on the part of vulnerable families facing housing and neighborhood hardships. The findings are based on in-depth interviews with 72 respondents and ethnographic observations in an urban community. The results illustrate how low-income women avoid neighborhood danger by relegating family life to the home environment, thereby increasing exposure to health risks such as stress, depression and asthma. The discussion focuses on public health literature linking housing and health and proposes the use of legal strategies and community engagement as resources to complement current approaches to housing and neighborhood problems.

Author

• Diana Hernandez, Columbia University