A newly released study by County Health Rankings & Roadmaps finds that households who are severely cost-burdened (spend 50% or more of their income on housing) suffer significant harm in a number of health areas. Counties with the highest housing cost burden have consistently worse health outcomes than those with the lowest burden: every 10% increase in the share of severely cost-burdened families is linked to 86,000 more people who are food insecure, 29,000 more children in poverty, and 84,000 more adults in less-than-good health. Furthermore, counties with greater residential segregation have higher rates of severe housing cost burdens for everyone, but especially for black households.
To learn more about the connections between health and housing, visit the Agency’s Policy and Research section of HousingBuildsNC.com, where you can find information about the impacts affordable housing investments have on health, child development, and other areas.
