Can Affordable Housing Policies Reduce Health Disparities? Lessons From Chapter 40b in Massachusetts

Despite substantial government investment, health disparities persist across geographic and racial lines in the US. If these disparities are driven in part by neighborhood conditions, could housing policies that desegregate by race and income help reduce them? While a doctoral student at Harvard, Noémie Sportiche compared health outcomes for people who moved to affordable housing in more affluent, largely white communities created via Chapter 40B, a unique Massachusetts state law. In this talk, she will discuss her paper on the topic, which won the Center’s Best Paper on Housing Prize last year.