Racialized Housing Discrimination and Population Health: a Scoping Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Racial residential segregation is considered a fundamental cause of racial health disparities, with housing discrimination as a critical driver of residential segregation. Despite this link, racial discrimination in housing is far less studied than segregation in the population health literature. As a result, we know little about how discrimination in housing is linked to health beyond its connection to segregation. Furthermore, we need to understand how health impacts differ across different types of housing discrimination. This review aims to assess the state of the population health literature on the conceptualization, measurement, and health implications of housing discrimination. We used PRISMA guidelines for scoping reviews and presented the data on 32 articles that met our inclusion criteria published before January 1, 2022. Nearly half of the articles do not define housing discrimination explicitly. Additionally, there is considerable variation in how housing discrimination is operationalized across studies. Compared to studies using administrative data for housing discrimination exposures, studies using survey data were more likely to report a detrimental association with health outcomes. Synthesizing and comparing the results of these studies helps bridge methodological approaches to this research. Our review helps inform the debate on how racism impacts population health. Given the changing nature of racial discrimination over time and place, we discuss how population health researchers can approach studying various forms of housing discrimination.

Lifespan Socioeconomic Context Is Associated With Cytomegalovirus and Late-Differentiated CD8+ T and Natural Killer Cells: Initial Results in Older Adults

“…Sample demographics also prevented us from examining potentially meaningful intersections between race and socioenvironmental factors on immune health (e.g., (58)). Importantly, a history of racially discriminatory policies and practices may limit residential choice for families of color, differentially affecting lifespan SEC and ultimately health (59,60). In addition, we did not have a measure of childhood SES, and therefore, our analyses were limited to adjusting for only current adulthood SES, which was conceptualized as income and years of education.…”

Health Care Policy and Disparities in Health

“…Furthermore, these neighborhoods are more likely to have inadequate infrastructure, heavy street and highway traffic, the presence of hazardous waste facilities, and superfund sites. Historically redlined areas even have a direct correlation with higher rates of child poverty and adverse outcomes, such as obesity, smoking, drug use, and higher crime rates compared with nonredlined areas 40,41 …”

“…Historically redlined areas even have a direct correlation with higher rates of child poverty and adverse outcomes, such as obesity, smoking, drug use, and higher crime rates compared with nonredlined areas. 40,41…”

Examine the environmental inequity impact of urban heat mitigation on redlining legacy: case study of Charlotte’s retrofitting, 2001–2020

“…Wilson (2020) discusses the legacy of redlining and the role of urban heat management, while Lee et al (2022) reviews the literature on health outcomes in redlined versus non-redlined neighborhoods. Swope et al (2022); Cross et al (2023) examine the relationship of historical redlining with present-day environmental and health outcomes and present research agendas. What's more, the past redlining policies still have a profound impact on the current environmental extreme exposure of historical marginalized areas.…”