The University of Michigan and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) have published a study in the October 29, 2024 Journal of Urban Health (doi: 10.1007/s11524-024-00926-z. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39470868) exploring the relationship between access to mortgage loans and improved neighborhood mental health. The research found that housing investment was linked to promoting community well-being.
This 2024 study confirms several previous studies of the link between redlining and health. For example, the study "Mortgage Lending Bias and Breast Cancer Survival Among Older Women in the United States" published in the June, 2021 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology - 39(25):JCO.21.00112 - found that contemporary redlining has a negative impact on survival among older women with breast cancer.
The 2021 study utilized a redlining index consisting of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data (2007-2013) linked by census tract with a SEER-Medicare cohort of 27,516 women age 66-90 years with an initial diagnosis of stage I-IV breast cancer in 2007-2009 and follow-up through 2015. It found that 34% of non-Hispanic White, 57% of Hispanic, and 79% of non-Hispanic Black individuals lived in redlined tracts. As the redlining index increased, women experienced poorer survival rates. This effect was strongest for women with no co-morbid conditions, who were 54% of the sample. A similar pattern was found for breast cancer–specific mortality. The conclusion was that contemporary redlining is associated with poorer breast cancer survival. The impact of this bias is evidenced by the stronger effect even among women with health insurance (Medicare) and no co-morbid conditions.
The 2024 study discovered that, in almost all of the 18 major U.S. metropolitan areas analyzed, neighborhoods with numerically more issued mortgages had better mental health outcomes. This probably is because of the firmer social stability and financial security that homeownership provides - which also helps reduce stress and anxiety. Increased mortgage activity often also is accompanied by such enhanced neighborhood improvements as better infrastructure, more green space, and community facilities. All of these strengthen social cohesion and improve well-being.
This 2024 study utilized the newly available HMDA longitudinal dataset which tracks mortgage lending data over decades. “This is a pioneering study in this field of research which leverages the mortgage lending data over decades, in order to assess patterns,” said Dr. Bruce Mitchell, NCRC Principal Researcher and a co-author of the new study “We hope that public health researchers can gather further insights into the relationships between community well-being and housing using this dataset.”
Photo courtesy of Violette79 on Flickr.
Read the November 19, 2024 NCRC article.
