Employed

Per Capita Income

Above Poverty

Economic

Preschool Enrollment

Bachelor's Education

High School Enrollment

Education

Voting

Census Response

Social

Automobile Access

Active Commuting

Transportation

Insured Adults

Healthcare Access

Retail Density

Park Access

Tree Canopy

Neighborhood

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Renters

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Homeowners

Housing Habitability

Uncrowded Housing

Homeownership

Housing

Ozone

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Diesel Particulate Matter

Safe Drinking Water

Clean Environment

Extreme Heat

Impervious Surfaces

Outdoor Workers

Public Transit Access

Sea Level Rise

Two Parent Households

Alcohol Availability

Supermarket Access

Decision Support

Everyone should be able to live in a safe and habitable home. Poor quality and unstable housing quality exposes residents to toxins, mold, pests and conditions that can trigger asthma and increase risks of injuries. Housing instability, crowding and homelessness are associated with: low birth weights, depression, behavioral problems, and educational delays for children; asthma, tuberculosis, and other communicable diseases; skipped meals and medical appointments or medication; social isolation; and loss of political.

 Lack of complete kitchen facilities contributes to food insecurity making it more difficult for residents to meet their nutritional needs or cook safely. Without a kitchen, people are unable to store perishable foods like vegetables or dairy, and often purchase prepared food, which can lead to poor health outcomes. Plumbing is essential for the basic sanitation necessary to limit disease.

This indicator measures the percentage of households living in homes with basic plumbing and kitchen facilities. This indicator is a proxy for overall housing habitability.

United States Census. American Community Survey, 2015 One Year Estimates.

Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative, “Displacement Brief” (Oakland, February 2012), http://barhii.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BARHII-displacement-brief.pdf.

U.S. Census Bureau, “American Community Survey, 1 Year Estimates”, 2016.

Apartment List, “June 2016 California Apartment List Rent Report”. June 2016, https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/california-rent-report-rentonomics/

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Preserving Affordable Rental Housing: A Snapshot of Growing Need, Current Threats, and Innovative Solutions,” Evidence Matters, Summer 2013, https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer13/highlight1.html.

Carey McLaughlin, Valerie Tarasuk, and Nancy Kreiger, “An Examination of At-Home Food Preparation Activity among Low-Income, Food-Insecure Women.,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 103, no. 11 (November 2003): 1506–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002.

Christiana Miewald and Aleck Ostry, “A Warm Meal and a Bed: Intersections of Housing and Food Security in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside,” Housing Studies 29, no. 6 (August 18, 2014): 709–29, https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2014.920769.

James Krieger and Donna Higgins, “Housing and Health: Time Again for Public Health Action,” American Journal of Public Health 92, no. 5 (May 2002): 758–68.

Kenneth Hanson, “Economic Research Report Number 103, The Food Assistance National Input-Output Multiplier (FANIOM) Model and Stimulus Effects of SNAP” (United States Department of Agriculture, October 2010), http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR103/ERR103.pdf.

Dana Gunders, “Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill,” August 2012, https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf.

Responses to this indicator should be three-fold. In the short term, it is crucial to 

 for households facing food insecurity, especially for residents living in units without kitchens or other basic facilities. This is especially true in areas with 

. Some jurisdictions have already completed food security plans, and many health departments or social service agencies have plans or programs to address food insecurity. These can be valuable sources of data and additional policy recommendations.

In the longer term, jurisdictions should target poor quality housing with policies and programs to 

. Consult your jurisdiction’s Housing Element, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data, and local homeless counts (if available) for more information about local housing conditions, partner with local community based organizations, affordable housing developers/residents, and others to identify community housing needs, and target policies and programs accordingly.

Without careful attention to retaining existing tenants and neighborhoods residents, efforts to improve housing quality can have the unintended consequence of displacing those residents in most need of healthy community conditions, such as low-income households, people with disabilities, the elderly, and people of color. It is essential to pass policies to 

 well in advance of upgrading housing stock. Areas with 

 are often more vulnerable to displacement, particularly when they are in, or close to, hot real estate markets, transit, and jobs centers. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed methodologies for understanding displacement risk and dynamics in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County. These easy to use tools 

While upgrading housing is essential to addressing this indicator, it can take many years.

Preserve and improve existing housing to ensure that that all residents have habitable, healthy, uncrowded housing, and that affordable housing stays affordable. Preserving housing is far less expensive than building new housing.

Climate

Promising

One for One Replacement (No-Net-Loss)

Pollution

Health

Strong Evidence

Homeowner Rehabilitation Programs

Equity

Sufficient Evidence

Second Unit Amnesty Programs

Preservation/Acquisition/Rehabilitation/Conversion Programs

Mobile Home Preservation Programs

Condominium Conversion Ordinances

Community Power and Connection

Community Land Trusts

Single Room Occupancy Preservation Ordinances

Rental Rehabilitation Programs

Weatherization Programs

Proactive Rental Inspection/Code Enforcement

Ensure that individuals and families have access to safe, affordable, high-quality housing during public health and climate emergencies. 

Emerging

Provide Rent and Mortgage Payment Relief

Enact Moratoria on Evictions, Foreclosures, and Sweeps of Encampments

Convert Vacant Units into Safe Homes

Best Practice

Provide Utilities as a Public Good

In the short term, it is crucial to improve healthy food access for households facing food insecurity, especially for residents living in housing without kitchens or other basic facilities.

California’s Restaurant Meals Program

Healthy Food Initiatives in Food Banks 

Shared Kitchen Programs (Emerging Practice)

Home Delivered Meals or Food Box Programs 

CalFresh Enrollment Efforts

CalFresh-EBT Incentive Programs

Nutrition and Cooking Skills Education Programs 

Community Gardens 

Food Recovery Programs

Protect residents who might be forced to accept unsafe or crowded conditions or make other unhealthy tradeoffs to pay for housing, or who are at risk of being displaced.

Policy Guide

Housing Habitability

References