Housing Quality
Housing quality is determined by the physical structure and living conditions of housing. Housing quality includes how well the home is built and the conditions people live in. Good, well-maintained homes give stability and protect people from harmful things that can make them sick. The condition of a house includes environmental, physical, and behavioral dangers, all of which can affect health. Also, rental housing might be in bad shape because of high demand and little incentive for landlords to make improvements. Renters, especially in low-income areas, might not be able to get landlords to fix things, and legal action can be too expensive or hard to do. There are many environmental dangers linked to housing quality and health, like radon[], lead [], asbestos [,,], and dirty water[].
Physical hazards include a variety of structural issues with housing. Some examples of physical hazards are related to water intrusion[], structural integrity[], ventilation systems[], heating and cooling systems[,], basic needs[], and accessibility[]. Both poor ventilation and heating systems add to carbon monoxide poisoning[].
Human behaviors within the home, like not cleaning, hoarding[], smoking (and second hand smoke)[], using pesticides[,,], misusing household cleaners[,,,] and some cooking behaviors[,] can pose hazards for housing quality. Such behaviors can put people at risk for negative health outcomes.
Individual Behavior / Exposures: Certain activities, like using cook stoves, can cause health problems.[] Exposure to products with lead,[] There are a few ways to assess the quality of housing in your community. From an environmental hazard perspective, the age of housing can often be a good indicator of poor quality. This is due to challenges in the upkeep of older homes.
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