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. 2022 Jun 14;76(8):759-763.
doi: 10.1136/jech-2021-216439. Online ahead of print.

Building health equity through housing policies: critical reflections and future directions for research

Kathryn M Leifheit  1   2 , Gabriel L Schwartz  3 , Craig Evan Pollack  4   5   6 , Sabriya L Linton  7
Affiliations

Building health equity through housing policies: critical reflections and future directions for research

Kathryn M Leifheit et al. J Epidemiol Community Health. .

Abstract

Housing may be at once the most powerful and underused tool at our disposal to improve population health. Using examples from the USA, we argue that current levels of housing insecurity are the result of clear and inequitable policy choices, leading to the entrenchment of health inequities-particularly, across race and class. Solutions to housing insecurity must, therefore, be structural. The COVID-19 pandemic has opened a window of opportunity for these structural housing policy reforms. Through justice- and action-oriented research, health researchers can inform the development and implementation of housing policies that advance health equity. We offer a series of recommendations to better position our field to achieve this goal.

Keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; HOMELESS PERSONS; Health inequalities; POLICY; RESEARCH DESIGN.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: KML was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; grant no T32HS000046). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of AHRQ. CEP works part time on a temporary assignment with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), assisting the department on housing and health issues. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of HUD or other government agencies.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual framework showing the structural-environmental-biological process through which housing policies, in the context of structural oppression, affect inequities in population well-being.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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