Your zip code is a better predictor of your health than your genetic code.
Melody Goodman, assistant professor at Washington University
There is no doubt that a person’s health outcomes are impacted by their housing. In many cases, the physical structure of a person’s home is actively making them sick and causing health problems. Aging homes with chipping lead paint or pipes can expose residents to dangerously high levels of lead, posing a number of health risks. Sometimes, the location of a person’s home is limiting them from accessing what they need to stay healthy. Residents whose neighborhoods lack access to healthy food or healthcare resources (often a result of redlining and segregation) are likely to experience worse health outcomes. On the other hand, the location of a person’s home may also be exposing them to harmful environmental factors, such as air pollution, which can trigger asthma and other health conditions.
Although discriminatory housing policies, like redlining, have been outlawed for decades, the effects of these policies continue to impact the health outcomes of folks living in formerly redlined communities all these years later. Research shows that residents living in formerly redlined or racially segregated neighborhoods experience worse health outcomes. Residents of formerly redlined neighborhoods are at increased risk of health issues like preterm birth, cancer, tuberculosis, and maternal depression. Needless to say, where you live has the ability to impact your health in major ways.
People of color have long endured the fatal consequences of racial health disparities.
—James Blue, Smithsonian Channel Head,
discussing new documentary, The Color of Care
To highlight the impact of housing on health outcomes, the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research recently collaborated with students from Case Western Reserve University’s Office of Interprofessional and Interdisciplinary Education and Research to develop a series of fact sheets on the topic of housing and health. The project came about from CWRU’s Collaborative Practice I course, an interprofessional service learning experience in which first-year health professions and social work students are paired with local organizations to complete community-based projects focused on health and well-being.
Learn more about the impact of housing on asthma, infant and maternal health, and lead exposure by viewing the fact sheets below.
Housing and health are inextricably linked, so being able to choose the housing of your choice without barriers is critical. We cannot have healthy, thriving communities without first addressing housing discrimination, segregation, and systemic racism. Fair housing protections must be widely enforced and expanded, in order to ensure that people have decent, affordable housing and access to quality healthcare options.
The Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research is a not for profit fair housing agency that promotes nondiscrimination in housing and integrated communities in Northeast Ohio. If you think you have been discriminated against in housing related transactions because of your race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, familial status, or disability, contact The Fair Housing Center. Fair housing advocates can be reached by phone at (216) 361-9240 or by email at advocates@thehousingcenter.org.