Children, housing and food insecurity: An immediate problem with long-term implications

We know that young children living in poverty are often deprived of adequate food and housing. But what are the long-term implications of this material hardship? Researchers from Children's HealthWatch are beginning to uncover the answers to this question. Their findings reinforce the importance of providing housing assistance for low-income families and highlight the need for policies that protect the youngest members of our society.

The study, which includes researchers from universities and hospitals in Boston, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Little Rock, suggests that a lack of adequate food, housing and home energy can have devastating effects on the health and brain development of children ages 4 months to 3 years of age. Some of the findings from this study include:

• When young children experience housing insecurity (frequent moves, living in shelters, crowding) they develop stress hormones that can damage the developing brain through age 19.
• Living and sleeping without proper heat or air-conditioning also creates these stress hormones, as well as other problems such as asthma.
• The young children in the study were more likely to suffer from food insecurity, which has severe consequences for cognitive, social and emotional development. 

What does subsidized housing mean for low-income children? 

Children’s HealthWatch data, collected at their Boston research site between 1998 and 2008, found that when children living in subsidized housing are compared to those whose families are on the wait list, those in subsidized housing are:

• More likely to be food secure
• Less likely to be seriously underweight
• More likely to be classified as “well” on a composite indicator of child health

The research also found that subsidized housing made the greatest difference in protecting the growth of children living in families struggling to put enough food on the table (households classified as food insecure). Food insecure children living in subsidized housing were 52 percent less likely to be seriously underweight than food insecure children on the wait list.

For more information about the study:

Children's HealthWatch: Rx for Hunger: Affordable housing

Philadelphia Inquirer: Poor childhood takes lifelong toll, study shows

Phildelphia Inquirer: Putting Children at Risk

About Children's Healthwatch:

Children’s HealthWatch is a pediatric research center that monitors the impact of economic conditions and public policy on the health and well-being of very young children. Established in 1998 and based at Boston Medical Center, Children’s HealthWatch has the largest clinical database on children under three living in poverty. The database of more than 36,000 children, more than 80% of whom are minorities, is composed of cross-sectional household-level surveys and medical record audits. Children’s HealthWatch collects data daily in Baltimore, Boston, Little Rock, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia in five hospitals that serve some of the nation’s poorest families.