Health Impact Assessment and Housing
Health impact assessments present an important lens for assessing life in Mendocino County and working to improve it. Here's an excerpt from an issue brief looking at housing from a public health perspective:
Guidance for the Public Health Sector
Health impact assessment and housing
Many of the nation’s most pressing public health problems, such as asthma, depression, diabetes, and obesity, are influenced by the places where people live, work, and play. Policy decisions that affect housing quality, affordability, and location as well as neighborhood characteristics can influence whether these places are supportive of or detrimental to community health and well-being and can play important roles in reducing or even preventing disease. Unfortunately, public health professionals often are not part of the development decision-making process, which can result in a missed opportunity to ensure that health is effectively considered.
Research has consistently demonstrated the link between housing and health. For example, a lack of affordable housing limits people’s ability to acquire and maintain adequate shelter and meet other basic needs. Financial constraints can force families to choose between paying for rent, utilities, food, or medical care. The design and quality of housing can affect health outcomes such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and injury, while the location and the social, economic, and built environments of the surrounding neighborhood can have implications for health through access to supportive resources, opportunities, and social networks and relationships.
To read the full article click HERE.
The website, How Housing Matters, has three articles on this topic. Click the titles to read more.
Author:
Patrice Mascolo
Resource Date:
April 27, 2017
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