IX HOUSING QUALITY, QUANTITY, AND COST

There is continuous debate on the impact of house quality on residents’ health and well-being. Good living environment improves health, and fear of crime is recognised as a mediator in the relationship between physical environment and health. Since minimal studies have investigated the relationship, this study aims to examine the impact of the house quality on fear of crime and health. A total of 230 households from a residential neighbourhood in Malaysia participated in the study. Using structural equation modelling, the findings indicate that housing quality and fear of crime can account for a proportion of the variance in residents’ self-rated health. However, there is no significant relationship between housing quality and fear of crime. Results also show that fear of crime does not mediate the relationship between housing quality and health. This study suggests that the environment-fear relationship should be re-examined theoretically.

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More Than Shelter: Housing for Urban Maternal and Infant Health

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18073331 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 3331

Author(s):

Jason Reece

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Maternal Health ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

City Planning ◽

Infant Health ◽

The United States ◽

Housing Quality ◽

Housing Discrimination ◽

Maternal Health Outcomes ◽

The Impact

Housing quality, stability, and affordability have a direct relationship to socioemotional and physical health. Both city planning and public health have long recognized the role of housing in health, but the complexity of this relationship in regard to infant and maternal health is less understood. Focusing on literature specifically relevant to U.S. metropolitan areas, I conduct a multidisciplinary literature review to understand the influence of housing factors and interventions that impact infant and maternal health. The paper seeks to achieve three primary goals. First, to identify the primary “pathways” by which housing influences infant and maternal health. Second, the review focuses on the role and influence of historical housing discrimination on maternal health outcomes. Third, the review identifies emergent practice-based housing interventions in planning and public health practice to support infant and maternal health. The literature suggests that the impact of housing on infant health is complex, multifaceted, and intergenerational. Historical housing discrimination also directly impacts contemporary infant and maternal health outcomes. Policy interventions to support infant health through housing are just emerging but demonstrate promising outcomes. Structural barriers to housing affordability in the United States will require new resources to foster greater collaboration between the housing and the health sectors.

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The challenge of low-income housing quality in Latin American cities: lessons from two decades of housing policies in Bogotá

Housing Studies ◽

10.1080/02673037.2020.1867080 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Juan G. Yunda ◽

Olga Ceballos-Ramos ◽

Milena Rincón-Castellanos

Keyword(s):

Latin American ◽

Low Income ◽

Housing Quality ◽

Housing Policies ◽

American Cities ◽

Low Income Housing

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Housing quality and behavior affect brain health and anxiety in healthy Japanese adults

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91363-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Juan Cesar D. Pineda ◽

Keisuke Kokubun ◽

Toshiharu Ikaga ◽

Yoshinori Yamakawa

Keyword(s):

Sedentary Behavior ◽

Fractional Anisotropy ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Housing Quality ◽

Valuable Insight ◽

Brain Health ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Japanese Adults ◽

The Relationship

AbstractCountless studies in animals have shown how housing environments and behaviors can significantly affect anxiety and brain health, giving valuable insight as to whether this is applicable in the human context. The relationship between housing, behavior, brain health, and mental wellbeing in humans remains poorly understood. We therefore explored the interaction of housing quality, weekend/holiday sedentary behavior, brain structure, and anxiety in healthy Japanese adults. Whole-brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods based on gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy were used as markers for brain health. Correlation tests were conducted, and then adjusted for multiple comparisons using the False Discovery Rate method. Housing quality and weekend/holiday sedentary behavior were associated with fractional anisotropy, but not with gray matter volume. Fractional anisotropy showed significant associations with anxiety. Lastly, both weekend/holiday sedentary behavior and housing quality were indirectly associated with anxiety through fractional anisotropy. These results add to the limited evidence surrounding the relationship among housing, behavior, and the brain. Furthermore, these results show that behavior and housing qualities can have an indirect impact on anxiety through neurobiological markers such as fractional anisotropy.

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Finance and the Supply of Housing Quality

Journal of Financial Economics ◽

10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.04.022 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Reher

Keyword(s):

Housing Quality

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The Impact of Employment Quality and Housing Quality on Human Development in the European Union

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020969 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 969

Author(s):

Marina Checa-Olivas ◽

Bladimir de la Hoz-Rosales ◽

Rafael Cano-Guervos

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Human Development ◽

Capabilities Approach ◽

Housing Quality ◽

The European Union ◽

Human Capabilities ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Employment Quality ◽

The Impact

This study aims to contribute new information on how and through which factors employment quality and housing quality can be improved from a human development approach so that people can live the life they want. Using the human capabilities approach as a theoretical reference framework, the article analyses the effect of involuntary part-time employment and overcrowded housing on the Human Development Index (HDI). The empirical analysis is based on the panel data technique, which is applied to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the 28 member countries of the European Union. The results shed new evidence on how involuntary part-time work and overcrowded housing limit or hinder people from living the lives they want, at least in the dimensions measured by the HDI.

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