Campaign Releases New Fact Sheet on Child Poverty and Lack of Access to Housing
The campaign has released a new fact sheet describing the connections between child poverty and lack of access to stable, affordable housing. The fact sheet includes research showing that housing is foundational to many outcomes in children, including physical and cognitive development, success in school, health, and safety, and that increasing access to affordable housing is the most cost-effective strategy for reducing childhood poverty. The fact sheet was developed with the help of campaign partners focusing on child anti-poverty and well-being, including Children’s HealthWatch, ZERO TO THREE, and Children’s Defense Fund.
In total, the campaign has posted 16 multi-sector fact sheets to its website. Each fact sheet compiles landmark research to help policymakers, opinion leaders, and the public understand the deep connections between housing and other national priorities, from healthcare to education to economic growth. Housing advocates are encouraged to download the fact sheets and use them in making the case for cross-sector collaboration with potential allies in other fields. Broadening the movement for housing justice requires ensuring that allies in other sectors fully appreciate the extent to which housing influences their own priorities and goals.
See the full list of fact sheets here.
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NLIHC Releases The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes
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| NLIHC released its annual report The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes. This year’s report finds that the lowest-income renters in the U.S. face a shortage of 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes, and that no state has an adequate supply of affordable rental housing for the lowest-income renters. As a result, nearly three-quarters of renters with extremely low incomes are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half their income on rent and accounting for nearly 70% of all severely cost-burdened renters in the U.S. Like the campaign’s policy agenda, the report calls for greater federal investments in the preservation and expansion of the affordable housing stock, more Housing Choice Vouchers to bridge the gap between renters’ incomes and rent, and emergency assistance for renters who experience unexpected short-term financial shocks. |
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| The report shows that 74% of extremely low-income renters are severely cost-burdened, spending more than 50% of their household income on housing costs. The impacts of being severly cost-burdened are far reaching: renters are forced to spend less on food and healthcare as they pay more of their income on housing. Compared to the lowest-income renters who are not cost-burdened, the lowest-income renters who are severely cost-burdened spend 42% less on healthcare and 39% less on food. To equitably protect the health and quality of life of renters with extremely low incomes, advocates across sectors must continue to push for robust housing solutions. |
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American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association Release Webinar Series on Housing and Health
Campaign roundtable members American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association released a two-part webinar series on housing and health. The series, “Housing for Health – Engaging the Pediatric Community,” explores how pediatric practices and children’s hospitals can uphold the connection between healthy housing and improved health for children and their families. The first webinar explores the connection between housing security and health outcomes, including the health risks of homelessness. The second webinar features two practitioners from state cross-sector programs, who share lessons learned and recommended strategies to create similar programs. Both webinars and their presentation materials are available to view on Children’s Hospital Association’s website.
View the first webinar, “From Housing Security to Healthy Housing—Engaging Pediatric Providers” here.
View the second webinar, “Innovative Approaches to Address Housing Needs: What Pediatricians and Hospital Systems Can Do” here. |
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New Article Explores Impacts of Housing Instability on Children’s Access to Safety Net Programs
A new article in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, draws on survey data from campaign partner Children’s HealthWatch to demonstrate that cost-related disruptions in housing stability have significant impacts on many different safety net programs affecting family well-being. Using cross-sectional survey data on caregivers and children recruited into the study from emergency departments and primary care clinics in Baltimore and Philadelphia between 2011 and 2019, the article explores the reasons for family moves and how those moves relate to participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Medicaid. The authors find that those experiencing cost-related moves are more likely to experience disrupted access to social safety net programs and emphasize the importance of keeping children connected to housing, food, and healthcare.
Like Children’s HealthWatch, the American Academy of Pediatrics is a campaign partner. |
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| “Residential moves, particularly cost-driven moves, are associated with social safety net benefit disruptions. The association between these events suggests a need for action to ensure consistent safety net access among children facing cost-driven moves and vice versa (ie, access to housing supports for children with disrupted safety net access).” |
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New Study Finds Association between Veteran Housing Status and Cancer Outcomes
An article published in a recent housing and health-focused issue of Health Affairs found a significant association between housing stability and improved cancer survival rates among U.S. veterans. The study examined all-cause survival among a national cohort of over 100,000 veterans diagnosed with cancer between 2011 and 2020 to evaluate whether being unhoused, obtaining housing, or losing housing in the year following a diagnosis of cancer was associated with worse survival rates when compared to being continuously housed. The study found that veterans who were either continuously unhoused or who lost housing had poorer survival rates compared with those who were continuously housed. The findings highlight the importance of stable, affordable housing in improving health outcomes for cancer patients, particularly for the veteran population, and indicate that policies to promote housing access may positively impact cancer-related outcomes. |
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| “Our findings suggest that policies to promote housing may improve cancer-related outcomes. In addition, our findings highlight poor outcomes among both people experiencing continuous homelessness and people who lose housing after cancer diagnosis. This reinforces the potential benefits of screening patients after their cancer diagnosis and intervening to house those who lack housing and prevent homelessness for those at risk.” |
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