Expert: It’s harder to afford living in state

Yale’s Danya Keene: Cost could also harm people’s health

A minimum wage employee would have to work 97 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the U.S. in 2021 comfortably, said Danya Keene, associate professor of Social Sciences at Yale School of Public Health.

In New Haven, about 50 percent of households that rent are considered housing burden, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, said Keene, who also runs the Housing and Health Equity Lab at Yale.

As the housing crisis continues and rent prices rise, she said residents spend too much of their income on rent and sacrifice other essentials that could impact their overall health.

“If we’re thinking about affordability, high housing costs can force renters to make difficult choices between their rent and other health needs, such as food or medication,” Keene said. “High cost can also force renters into units that have health hazards like pests, mold, paint, and other things. All of these issues cause stress that is profoundly health-harming and keeps renters up at night.”

The intersection of housing insecurity and health was the central theme for Health Equity Solutions and Yale’s Housing and Health Equity Lab joint panel discussion held virtually on Wednesday as part of National Health Equity Week. The panel dove into the history of policies and structural barriers impacting a person’s ability to afford the cost of living in Connecticut.

Keene added that the lack of affordable housing also leads to higher eviction rates, which is a significant driver of homelessness. “Tenants who are paying huge portions of their income on housing are only one unexpected expense away from falling behind and being at risk of eviction,” she said.

Tenants’ eviction histories can also affect their ability to find future housing, said panelist Whitney Denary, a doctorate candidate at Yale School of Public Health.

A handful of panelists also highlighted the impact of housing that doesn’t meet a tenant’s needs on health. Denary said she’s heard many stories of people facing housing issues who don’t have proper refrigeration or a stove to cook food in their kitchen.

“While they m aybeina house, that doesn’t mean that their quality of housing is meeting those needs,” Denary said. “There’s a really interesting spectrum of what housing can mean to meet everything that you really need to be healthy.”

LaToya Tyson, a training and outreach specialist at Health Equity Solutions, echoed the other panelists, noting how all the social influencers of health circle and overlap one another.

Tyson said if someone can’t afford where they live, then they most likely can’t afford to go to a doctor and buy medications. If they can make it to the doctor, she said it may still take them hours to reach their appointment if money isn’t invested in their community toi mprove transportation.

“We’re like onions and you have to peel back all of these different components,” she said. “You cannot expect the ideal health for any individual if the environment in which they are in is not conducive to supporting their entire health.”

Kally Moquete, senior policy manager at Health Equity Solutions, said housing insecurity impacts homeowners’ and renters’ physical and mental health in many ways. She added that residents who face housing issues also often face other structural barriers, like lack of access to nutritious food, health care and educational opportunities.

So, addressing these layered issues requires reworking existing policies, expanding services and actively listening to the communities in need.

Moquete said laws and policies regarding fair housing are already in place, but the laws need to be reshaped to expand resources and strengthen anti-discrimination enforcement.

Connecticut is one of the few states that offers legal assistance to residents facing evictions, Moquete said. However, there are several “steps” before an eviction occurs that she considers to be “self-help,” such as responding to credit and debt collections. She said offering help there may help deter evictions sooner.

Although not a complete fix, Moquete said expanding affordable housing to include more three- or fourbedroom units would be helpful for people with large families in dire need. She added that families need “financial reprieves” through child tax credits.

“We need to make sure that we’re having sustainable and inclusive neighborhoods,” Moquete said. “We end up having a lot of developments that com ein and they start with affordable housing, then all of a sudden they’re being yanked out and they’re being sent elsewhere.”

Moquete said addressing the housing crisis requires fixing other infrastructure issues, such as access to public transportation and health care. Other recommendations included expanding programs for people experiencing homelessness, implementing community land trusts, increasing rental assistance and rapid rehousing programs.

Denary said the history of redlining also separated historically marginalized communities from the tools they need to improve their health. She explained that addressing racist frameworks and changing systems requires a strong understanding of history while also developing a connection to communities in need.

Redlining is the practice of mortgage lenders denying residents access to credit because of where they live, according to the Federal Reserve.