People who have stable housing tend to have better overall physical and mental health, a new issue brief says.
Photo by Arturo Rosenow, courtesy iStockphoto
Nearly half of U.S. renters are cost-burdened by housing, spending more than a third of their income on rent and utilities. While science consistently shows that stable, affordable housing improves health and well-being, rising costs are pushing millions of renters out of their homes each year.
To help their residents thrive, some states and municipalities — including New York City, San Francisco and Newark, New Jersey — have adopted rent control laws to hold landlords accountable to fair pricing standards and keep people in their homes.
Rent control establishes predictable limits on rent increases while ensuring landlords receive a fair return. The policies are often paired with “just-cause” eviction protections, which prevent landlords from evicting tenants or refusing lease renewals without a specific, legally recognized reason.
The laws are especially beneficial to marginalized groups — including people of color, low-income households, families with children, women, people with disabilities and immigrant families — who are disproportionately burdened by rising rental costs.
Rent control is a public health intervention, and it is one that public health professionals play a key role in advancing, according to Will Dominie, housing justice director at Health in Partnership, which recently released a new APHA-supported issue brief on the health benefits of rent control.
“When we have stable, affordable homes, we live longer, we do better and we're less sick,” Dominie told The Nation's Health.
When housing is unaffordable, Americans are often forced to make difficult tradeoffs, such as cutting back on nutritious food or skipping needed medications, he said. Housing instability is linked to worse health outcomes, including increased stress; chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension; mental health challenges; and even premature death.
Eviction judgments — formal court orders granting a landlord the legal right to regain possession of housing — are associated with a 40% increase in deaths, according to a 2023 study published in Social Science & Medicine.
In contrast, stable housing is associated with healthier blood pressure, lower rates of depression and anxiety, fewer emergency room visits, better birth outcomes, and improved behavioral and academic outcomes for children.
But finding affordable housing is becoming increasingly hard. The U.S. has a shortage of 7 million affordable homes for nearly 11 million low-income renters, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The shortage leaves just 35 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households.
In 2019, Oregon became the first state to adopt a statewide rent control law, limiting annual rent increases for most units at 7% plus inflation. Soon after, California adopted an annual cap on rent increases and Washington became the third state to adopt caps on rent in 2025.
“People across the state have been crying out for help — people who can't afford another rent increase and might be on the verge of homelessness,” Washington Sen. Yasmin Trudeau said in a news release. “This is how we truly put people first.”
Meanwhile hundreds of communities nationwide have adopted rent control policies, from Montgomery County, Maryland, to Los Angeles. Other municipalities, such as Providence, Rhode Island, are currently considering such measures.
However, in 34 states, rent control preemption laws block communities from enacting rental control and stabilization policies by limiting the authority of cities and counties. The laws have also been used to halt public health initiatives such as paid sick leave ordinances, restrict local firearm regulations and roll back anti-discrimination protections.
Framing housing as a health issue is one of the most persuasive ways to promote rent control and housing justice, according to Health in Partnership. Public health advocates can engage through policy development, assessment, and through education and outreach to state and local lawmakers.
For more information on “The Health Benefits of Rent Control: A Policy Brief for Public Health Practitioners,” visit www.healthinpartnership.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
