TY - JOUR
T1 - Does rental assistance improve mental health? Insights from a longitudinal cohort study
AU - Denary, Whitney
AU - Fenelon, Andrew
AU - Schlesinger, Penelope
AU - Purtle, Jonathan
AU - Blankenship, Kim M.
AU - Keene, Danya E.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( RO1MH110192 Kim M. Blankenship, Ph.D., Principal Investigator). Research reported in this publication was also supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases ( R01DK124500 Danya E. Keene, Ph.D., Principal Investigator). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (RO1MH110192 Kim M. Blankenship, Ph.D. Principal Investigator). Research reported in this publication was also supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK124500 Danya E. Keene, Ph.D. Principal Investigator). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Almost half of renters in the United States are rent-burdened, meaning that they pay more than 30% of their income toward housing costs. Rental assistance through programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleviates these financial strains for around 5 million households. However, due to budgetary constraints, fewer than one in four eligible households actually receive this assistance and waitlists average two years nationally. Using longitudinal data from a cohort of 400 low-income adults living in New Haven, CT, this paper investigates how access to rental assistance affects mental health through two analytical methods that address selection into rental assistance. First, we performed a cross-sectional analysis to identify how psychological distress differs among those receiving and those on a waitlist for rental assistance. Second, we used a within-person fixed-effects analysis to compare changes in individuals following entry into rental assistance. We find that those receiving rental assistance report significantly less psychological distress than those on waiting lists and that transitions into rental assistance are associated with statistically non-significant decreases in psychological distress. Our findings suggest that expanding rental assistance may be one potential step toward improving the mental health of low-income individuals in the United States.
AB - Almost half of renters in the United States are rent-burdened, meaning that they pay more than 30% of their income toward housing costs. Rental assistance through programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleviates these financial strains for around 5 million households. However, due to budgetary constraints, fewer than one in four eligible households actually receive this assistance and waitlists average two years nationally. Using longitudinal data from a cohort of 400 low-income adults living in New Haven, CT, this paper investigates how access to rental assistance affects mental health through two analytical methods that address selection into rental assistance. First, we performed a cross-sectional analysis to identify how psychological distress differs among those receiving and those on a waitlist for rental assistance. Second, we used a within-person fixed-effects analysis to compare changes in individuals following entry into rental assistance. We find that those receiving rental assistance report significantly less psychological distress than those on waiting lists and that transitions into rental assistance are associated with statistically non-significant decreases in psychological distress. Our findings suggest that expanding rental assistance may be one potential step toward improving the mental health of low-income individuals in the United States.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114100
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114100
M3 - Article
C2 - 34144434
AN - SCOPUS:85107982880
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 282
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
M1 - 114100
ER -