DPH Healthier Housing=Healthier Communities Initiative
In January 2015, DPH launched the Healthier Housing=Healthier Communities initiative as part of its broad efforts to address the social determinants of health and promote health equity.

Why is housing important to public health?
Housing is a fundamental factor in determining health and wellbeing. While affordable and quality housing can be a protective factor against health problems and hazards, unaffordable and poor quality housing contributes to a range of health issues and inequities. For example, in L.A. County, individuals living in unaffordable housing are twice as likely to experience difficulty affording health services and nutritious food compared to individuals whose housing is affordable. Individuals with a history of homeless are nearly three times as likely to be at risk for major depression compared to individuals who have not experienced homelessness. Families and children living in poor quality housing are at greater risk for exposure to lead as well as allergens that worsen asthma symptoms.

These connections between housing and health call for public health involvement as housing becomes even more out of reach for L.A. County residents. While the county minimum wage is $10.50 per hour, workers need to earn $40.54 per hour to afford an average 2 bedroom apartment. This economic context leaves individuals and families with fewer affordable options, pushing them into poorer quality, unaffordable housing or even homelessness. Nearly 88% of extremely low income households cannot afford their housing; 12% of households are overcrowded; and 48,874 people are homeless on any given night. Improving population health in L.A. County requires DPH to pursue upstream interventions that address the county’s housing crisis.

Click on the video below to learn more about the connections between health and housing:

Healthy Housing= Healthier Communities Video

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