In addition to Grewal and Card, the team included Kirk Hepburn and Scott Lear from the Faculty of Health Sciences as well as Marina Adshade from UBC鈥檚 School of Economics.
Previous research has looked at the mechanisms by which housing prices lead to health impacts, including its impact on people鈥檚 health protective behaviors. For example, previous studies have found that owning a home can create access to opportunities that further bolster health, while housing-related factors, such as debt, mortgage stress and credit problems, can result in mental health problems and depression.
Explaining the differential effects observed between high-income owners and low-income renters, Ashmita Grewal, a 天美mv天美 master's student, notes that this can be attributed to a 鈥渨ealth effect,鈥� wherein growing housing prices benefit homeowners due to the increase in their net worth. Meanwhile, renters and low-income individuals are priced out of the market 鈥� leading to worry and physiological stress
One study, included in this review, found that depreciating home prices led to increasing alcohol consumption among homeowners, while a study out of Denmark found that the health impact of housing price changes can be muted or mitigated by government policy.
鈥淚 hope this review contributes to a shift in the culture surrounding homeownership鈥�, explains Grewal. 鈥淲e need a shift in culture, where we don鈥檛 see housing as solely an investment or a way of gaining capital, but also as a basic living requirement.鈥�
Kiffer Card, assistant professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, who supervised the study, notes that among the many reasons housing affects our health is that it plays a key role in our connections to our communities.