Please read Dr. Von Jaglinsky’s article in SSM – Mental Health titled, “Neighborhood-level housing affordability and maternal depression.“
Housing affordability is a growing public health crisis in the United States, particularly for lower-income families. Over the past 20 years, low real wage growth for American workers combined with a dwindling supply of affordable rental units and a shortfall of federal housing assistance has resulted in a rapidly growing share of households who are rent burdened, commonly defined as paying more than 30% of income towards rent). In 2018, just under half of U.S. renters and 83% of households earning less than $15,000 annually were rent burdened, emphasizing how rental costs are a disproportionate burden for lower-income households. Renters with young children face particularly high burdens, with the median family spending 60% of their income on rent. The crisis in affordable housing has important implications for public health: low housing affordability increases a family’s risk of living in low quality, unsafe, and unstable housing; increases stress associated with struggling to meet rental or mortgage payments; and reduces available income to spend on basic needs such as food, education, and health care. To read the full article.
Neighborhood-level housing affordability and maternal depression. Mcgovern ME, Rokicki S, Von Jaglinsky A, Reichman NE. SSM – Mental Health, Vol 3 2023, 100192, DOI: 1016/j.ssmmh.2023.100192