How Housing Matters for Educational, Health, and Economic Outcomes

Housing matters. How, when, and where people access housing can have far-reaching effects on individuals and communities. Problems with housing supply (PDF), affordability, and stability can undermine all aspects of one’s life, including physical and mental health, educational attainment, and economic success. Policymakers, practitioners, and advocates in all sectors can focus on improving housing to move the needle across a range of other outcomes.

The sprawling influence of housing outcomes on other social policy domains is backed by decades of evidence. The research insights below provide a starting point for deeper research to support the development of cross-sector interventions.

How housing affects educational outcomes: Stability and quality matter

• Several studies affirm that children who experience eviction and homelessness, across geographies, have higher rates of chronic absenteeism and lower test scores.
• Destabilizing events like eviction can have a major impact on cognitive development. A study that tested 9-year-olds on memory, math, and vocabulary found that children who had experienced an eviction in the year before testing performed worse by the equivalent of as much as a full year of schooling.
• Research shows that frequent residence changes, and resulting school changes (PDF), make students less likely to complete high school on time and more likely to complete fewer years of school.
• A longitudinal study that explored the influence of housing conditions from birth on school readiness of children entering kindergarten found that children exposed to lower housing quality and underresourced neighborhoods had lower kindergarten readiness scores than their counterparts.
• Overcrowded households affect student learning, and research shows overcrowding can negatively affect children’s well-being and academic performance. Children who live in a crowded household at any time before age 19 are less likely to graduate from high school and tend to have lower educational attainment at age 25.

How housing affects health outcomes: Stability, quality, and affordability matter

• A meta-analysis on the relationship between redlining and current health inequities found that living in historically redlined neighborhoods is associated with increased risks of many adverse health outcomes, including asthma, heat-related illness, and cancer.
• One study found that households with poor housing quality had 50 percent higher odds of an asthma-related emergency department visit in the previous year.
• Homes are the primary source of lead exposure. Lead-based paint is the most common source of lead exposure, and there are major inequities in exposure for families living in older homes and families experiencing poverty. The pervasive toxic impacts of lead (PDF) are well documented, especially for young children, as their nervous systems are still developing, leading to associations with neurocognitive impairments and behavioral problems. A national longitudinal study of US adults found that even at low levels, an increase in blood lead levels was associated with increased risks of all-cause, cardiovascular, and ischemic mortality.
• Housing instability (e.g., difficulty paying rent, eviction, overcrowding) affects health care access. One study found that housing instability was associated with postponed medical care, postponed medications, and increased emergency department visits for children.
• Even when accounting for initial mental health status, research shows that high housing cost burdens, both persistent and intermittent, negatively affect self-reported mental health.
• Research found that children in families experiencing homelessness endure more frequent adverse childhood experiences and are at higher risk of physical health problems like respiratory issues and low birth weight.

How housing affects economic outcomes: Housing type and neighborhood influence wealth, employment, and upward mobility

• Housing wealth accounts for the highest portion of the wealth disparities between homeowners and renters—and this portion has increased substantially over the past 10 years. 
• Over the past decade, rental prices have increased faster than incomes, reducing renters’ residual income after paying for housing. Less savings can also lead to differences in financial wealth. Between 2019 and 2022, homeowners’ median financial wealth increased from $60,000 to $85,000, while the overall median financial wealth for renters remained almost the same (around $960).
• Housing quality issues like poor insulation can increase energy and utility costs, affecting household finances.
• Opportunity Insights’ evaluation the of Hope VI program found that children who grow up in economically revitalized neighborhoods earn more as adults. Each year living in a revitalized public housing unit raised children’s earnings in adulthood by 2.8 percent. Children who lived in a revitalized unit from birth earned 50 percent more over their lifetimes.
• The lack of affordable housing near good jobs shows that housing access and access to opportunity are inextricably linked, which affects future intergenerational mobility.
• Places with higher job accessibility by public transit are more likely to attract low-income households that don’t own cars but have at least one employed worker, demonstrating that job accessibility by transit affects housing location choice.

With research as a foundation, collaborative mechanisms like data sharing agreements, coordinated support services, and strategic funding and advocacy alignment can strengthen cross-sector partnerships’ work to support a housing future that improves outcomes across domains for individuals and communities.