Does rental assistance improve mental health? Insights from a longitudinal cohort study

Almost half of renters in the United States are rent-burdened, meaning that they pay more than 30% of their income toward housing costs. Rental assistance through programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleviates these financial strains for around 5 million households. However, due to budgetary constraints, fewer than one in four eligible households actually receive this assistance and waitlists average two years nationally. Using longitudinal data from a cohort of 400 low-income adults living in New Haven, CT, this paper investigates how access to rental assistance affects mental health through two analytical methods that address selection into rental assistance. First, we performed a cross-sectional analysis to identify how psychological distress differs among those receiving and those on a waitlist for rental assistance. Second, we used a within-person fixed-effects analysis to compare changes in individuals following entry into rental assistance. We find that those receiving rental assistance report significantly less psychological distress than those on waiting lists and that transitions into rental assistance are associated with statistically nonsignificant decreases in psychological distress. Our findings suggest that expanding rental assistance may be one potential step toward improving the mental health of low-income individuals in the United States.

Automated summary

Almost half of renters in the United States are rent-burdened, but due to budgetary constraints, only a fraction of eligible households actually receive rental assistance, with national waitlists averaging two years. The study found that individuals receiving rental assistance reported less psychological distress compared to those on waiting lists, however, transitions into rental assistance did not show statistically significant decreases in psychological distress.