The State of Healthy Housing presents the first comprehensive analysis of U.S. housing conditions. The study shows that despite early success toward improving housing conditions, the Roosevelt-era goal of ensuring that every family has access to safe and decent housing remains elusive.
Housing and health have been linked since the late 19th century when outbreaks of tuberculosis, typhoid, and cholera led to early housing and sanitary codes. Improvements in plumbing and sanitation, ventilation, overcrowding, and refrigeration, helped eradicate the spread of these diseases. Today, it is commonly accepted that water leaks, rodent infestations, and physical defects, are not only structural problems, but also a costly threat to health and safety.
The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) created the State of Healthy Housing by selecting 20 key housing factors from the American Housing Survey (AHS) that are related to health. The housing characteristics that make up the study rankings are based largely on the federal “housing quality standards,” which represent a single uniform standard for addressing the health and safety of residential dwellings. There is ample evidence that deficiencies in any one of these areas can and does lead to health deficits and safety issues.
The NCHH study uses survey data from the American Housing Survey (AHS), which is collected by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The national survey reaches an average 55,000 housing units on odd numbered years. In addition, metropolitan area surveys reach 2,700 or more housing units in each location about every six years. The AHS returns to the same housing units year after year to gather data.
According to the study, the most common housing problems in U.S. housing are water leaks from the outside (11%) and inside (8%), roofing problems (6%), damaged interior walls (5%) and signs of mice (5%). Water intrusion and roof problems contribute to damp home environments, which have been linked to asthma and other respiratory problems. Hazards such as damaged walls present a lead poisoning threat in homes built before 1978. Mice have been implicated in both the development and worsening of asthma.
Charlotte, North Carolina, Anaheim-Santa Ana, California, and Atlanta, Georgia, rank at the top of the list for having the healthiest housing. The metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles, California, and New York City ranked as having the least healthy housing. The central cities of Anaheim-Santa Ana, San Bernardino-Riverside, San Jose, and San Diego, CA; Chicago, IL; Norfolk/Newport News, VA, and Atlanta, GA have the healthiest housing. Oakland and San Francisco, CA; Memphis, TN; Birmingham, AL; Dallas, TX, and Cleveland, OH have the least healthy housing.
NCHH found that on average, forty-two percent of the homes in the study had at least one healthy housing problem ranging from 53% of homes in San Francisco to 28% in Atlanta. Across metropolitan areas, rental properties tend to have more problems than owner-occupied dwellings and central city housing tends to have more problems than housing outside the central city. However, there are exceptions to these trends such as San Diego where rental housing is healthier than owner-occupied homes and in Chicago where central city homes ranked healthier than homes outside the central city. Other community characteristics that influence the healthfulness of a jurisdiction’s housing include housing age and poverty levels.
If you have questions about the State of Healthy Housing, please contact Phillip Dodge, NCHH's Marketing & Development Officer.