Housing cost, consistency, and context and their relationship to health

Housing insecurity is associated with myriad negative outcomes for individuals and communities. Less understood is the indirect and direct relationships between specific types of housing insecurity and health. Using Swope and Hernández’s (2019) 4C’s of housing insecurity, data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), structural equation modelling, and binary logistic regression, we examine the relationship between different types of housing insecurity and mental and general health. We find housing cost independently decreases health outcomes while consistency insecurity indirectly affects health by increasing cost burdens. Most forms of housing cost, consistency, and context insecurity have independent and significant negative associations with short-term (12 month) and medium-term (seven to eight years) mental health. This suggests policymakers and advocates should place greater emphasis on housing assistance as an entitlement and cash assistance that vulnerable populations can use to address the cause of their specific type of housing insecurity.