Housing affordability issues often force households to live in substandard housing that can pose detrimental impact on their health and wellbeing. The presence of lead, mold, radon, and other pollutants and substandard conditions contribute to serious health problems such as lead poisoning, cancer, and asthma and expose residents to increased risk for other injuries like trip and falls.
71% of homes in Massachusetts were built before 1978 and are therefore likely to contain some lead-based paint.. Lead poses a wide range of health issues including cardiovascular, brain damage, and reproductive issues. Young children under the age of 6 are much more vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead exposure and increased levels of exposure can result in permanent health impacts such as developmental delays and learning disabilities. The Massachusetts lead law requires lead hazards be mitigated in homes with children under 6, however the cost to do so is expensive and there is less incentive for landlords to make this investment if they can find an alternative renter—thus further limiting available housing options for young families. This disproportionately impacts black children, who are 2.5x more likely than white children to have lead poisoning[i].
The age of our housing stock also poses increased risks for increased prevalence of chronic health conditions, such as asthma and respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, cognitive effects, and cancer resulting due to poor indoor air quality. Older Massachusetts homes are more likely to have higher levels of radon—a chemical linked to increase rates of lung cancer. Indoor Air Quality in housing is hard to quantify and can also overlap with poor outdoor air quality because of higher levels of environmental and/or pollution in specific communities. Research from MACDC found Brockton, Holyoke, and Springfield, all of which are gateway cities, have higher rates of confirmed child elevated blood lead levels as well as slightly higher rates of asthma. The higher prevalence of housing condition-linked health impacts in Gateway cities is an issue of both racial and economic inequality. Hispanic and black children have 2.5-3.5x higher asthma related emergency visits as compared to white children.
Aside from the housing structure itself, the location and neighborhood environmental conditions, plays a significant role in their physical and emotional wellbeing. Access to reasonably priced healthy food is now commonly understood as a major factor in a person’s overall health. National research has shown that low-income communities and communities of color have less access to healthy food than higher income and less diverse communities[ii]. Analysis has shown that Massachusetts rural area experience significant less access to food due to geographic distances as compared to urban and suburban communities[iii]. However, in urban areas of Massachusetts that have higher numbers of lower-income households, on average, they have significantly less access to healthy food options. Mixed-use communities, specifically those including accessible public transit, are often designed to be more walkable allowing people to travel shorter distances for their daily needs. This offers increased health benefits due to the ability to walk, rather than drive, to access basic needs such as groceries, open green space, entertainment, and often public transportation. Transit oriented development creates larger societal benefits through the reduced reliance on automobiles that contribute to increased pollution, air quality issues, and reduced traffic congestion leading to reduced economic activity and is time a person could better spend on activities that contribute to their overall wellbeing.