FORECLOSURE IS NOT AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STRESSOR: HOW INEQUALITY FUELS THE ADVERSE HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF THE NATION'S FINANCIAL CRISIS

Foreclosure rates persist at high levels, segregation remains a central organizing feature of metropolitan regions, and a variety of health problems continue to plague metropolitan regions across the United States. Each of these issues is the subject of much policy debate and scholarly research. Missing from most of this discussion, however, is the intersection of these social forces. In recent years, a connection between foreclosures and health has been documented. A question that arises and is explored in this research is whether the impact of foreclosures on health is exacerbated by various measures of inequality. This article examines the emerging impact of foreclosures on health and the longstanding effects of racial and socioeconomic inequality (e.g., racial segregation, concentration of poverty, and income inequality) on health in major metropolitan areas. More importantly, multivariate statistical analyses are conducted to determine whether, and the extent to which, these indicators of inequality mediate the impact of foreclosures on health. The findings suggest policy implications for the development, expansion, and allocation of health care and financial services to address challenges posed by the ongoing foreclosure crises facing the nation's metropolitan areas.