Open AccessRental Assistance and Adult Self-Rated Health
Author(s) -
Danya E. Keene,
Linda M. Niccolai,
Alana Rosenberg,
Penelope Schlesinger,
Kim M. Blankenship
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of health care for the poor and underserved
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.511
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1548-6869
pISSN - 1049-2089
DOI - 10.1353/hpu.2020.0025
Subject(s) - renting , receipt , subsidized housing , business , odds , voucher , subsidy , demographic economics , environmental health , logistic regression , medicine , economics , political science , market economy , accounting , law
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.