Living in Decent Housing Is a Necessity

We all know that living in decent housing is a necessity around which we build our lives and regroup when they have come off the rails. A stable home offers a secured environment with freedom from such dangers as lead, mold or falling plaster, common risks that detrimental housing poses. This directly lowers the risks of asthma, lead poisoning and injuries — especially among kids. On the other hand, housing instability is a major cause of chronic stress. Constant worry about being kicked out, becoming homeless or being overwhelmed by unaffordable rent payments set off a toxic stress response (associated with higher rates of depression and anxiety and even cardiovascular disease) for both parents and children. A safe home provides the base for a healthier family and provides the psychological safety required to heal and grow.

Impacts on Your Kids

Housing has just as great of an impact on a child's education trajectory. What is more, children living in stable homes are more likely to make it to school on a consistent basis and less likely to be thrown around by mandates because of forced moving. This continuity enables them to develop long-term rapport with teachers and classmates, an essential element in their academic and social development. Additionally, there is that quiet and predictable space needed for learning and mental development in a secure home. Housing instability, by contrast, is much more commonly the cause of extremely high rates of school churning that shatters learning and correlates strongly with low test scores and eventual dropping out. The stress of housing insecurity also affects a child's ability to concentrate and behave in the classroom, so the educational effects start long before an eviction ever happens.

Mutual Dependence with Financial Health

Economically, housing stability is an outcome and determinant of financial well-being. Housing is the single largest expense for most low-income families. When rent takes up more than half of household income, which is the case for millions of hard-working Americans, it places a family in a financially precarious position that any unexpected emergency — such as a car repair or medical bill — can turn into a crisis. Profitably paying the high cost of housing, there is not much with which to save for an education or asset-building, leaving families trapped in a paycheck to paycheck existence. The fallout from an eviction multiplies this burden, because a court record effectively bars families from obtaining future quality housing, relegating them to even costlier or less safe living situations and undermining credit and employment opportunities.

The rippling effects of this instability lead to a vicious, self-sustaining cycle. Sickness causes workers to miss out on work and to struggle with medical debt, which can ultimately destabilize their economic situation. Disrupted education leads to reduced potential future earnings and drives ever-steeper poverty. Financial crisis begets loss of housing, which in turn compromises health and dislodges education. To break this cycle we must acknowledge that housing is not an independent problem but the primary driver of life outcomes. Housing interventions including the development of affordable housing, the provision of emergency rental assistance and the expansion of eviction prevention are not simply housing policies, they are investments in public health, educational attainment and long term economic self-sufficiency.

In brief, there is nothing that makes it possible to have the freedom of choices and actions like a secure place to call home. Every family should have a stable home; not just because it's morally wrong for people not be able with all their capacities and capabilities, find somewhere they can sleep restfully at night, but also it is the most fundamental building block there is into which you build an entire life.