Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
This study sought to determine if adults who received housing were more likely than a control group to show improvements in depression, psychological distress, and self-rated mental health after moving to housing.
Findings/Key points
Adjusted mixed effects linear models showed that receiving housing resulted in significant decreases in psychological distress and self-rated mental health between the groups. Improvements in self-rated mental health between the groups were observed 6, 12 and 18 months after receiving housing (6 months, +2.9, p < 0.05; 12 months, +2.6, p < 0.05; 18 months, +3.0, p < 0.05). Reductions in psychological distress (−1.4, p < 0.05) were observed 12 months after receiving housing. Overall findings suggest that receiving subsidized housing improves mental health over a 6-to-18-month time horizon. This has policy and funding implications suggesting a need to reduce wait times and expand access to subsidized housing.
Design/methods
This was a quasi-experimental, longitudinal study investigating the impacts of receiving social housing among a cohort of 502 people on waitlists for social housing in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. Of the participants who completed at least one follow-up interview: 137 received social housing and 304 participants did not receive housing (control group).
