Housing instability and homelessness contribute to unemployment and financial insecurity and undermine both physical and emotional health. They also represent extreme manifestations of powerlessness and loss of belonging.

Evidence on the Relationship between Housing Stability and Upward Mobility Outcomes

As of December 2021, researchers have documented the following connections between this predictor and upward mobility. Asterisk (*) indicates primary reference. 

• Experiencing an eviction leads to financial instability. “The likelihood of being laid off is 15 percent higher for workers who have experienced an eviction,” compared with those who have never been evicted (Desmond 2016*, 296). After experiencing a period of housing instability, households are often forced into lower-income communities with higher crime rates and fewer employment opportunities (Desmond 2016*; Kull, Coley, and Lynch 2016).
• Residential stability is the basis for psychological stability, which allows people to invest in their social relationships, communities, health, and education (Desmond 2016*).
• In a three-city study (Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio), Kull, Coley, and Lynch (2016) found that after experiencing housing instability and homelessness, low-income households with children are more likely to experience additional periods of housing instability. After controlling for family characteristics, housing problems—such as peeling paint and exposed wires—were positively associated with residential moves, with each additional housing problem predicting a 6 percent increase in the rate of residential moves. Compared with families who lived in private-market rental units, families who moved into assisted housing experienced a 14 percent decrease in the rate of residential moves. This suggests that assisted housing can create a more stable living environment. Families who moved into homes that they purchased experienced a 37 percent decrease in the rate of mobility. The authors also note that a body of literature demonstrates that frequent residential moves are associated with lower cognitive and social functioning among children, higher maternal psychological distress, and heightened parenting stress.
• Renters who have been evicted are 25 percent more likely to experience long-term housing instability (Desmond 2016*).
• Housing instability is associated with barriers to health care and the increased use of emergency services (Kushel et al. 2006). Suicides attributed to evictions and foreclosures doubled between 2005 and 2010 in the wake and aftermath of the Great Recession (Desmond 2016*).
• Living in a crowded home in Los Angeles has statistically significant negative effects on children’s math and reading scores, internal and external behavioral problems, and physical health, after controlling for parents’ education, income, and demographic characteristics (Solari and Mare 2012).
• Burgard, Seefeldt, and Zelner (2012) find that many, but not all, types of housing instability are associated with poorer health. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and prior health, people who had moved for cost reasons in the previous three years were nearly two and a half times as likely to report an anxiety attack as those who had not moved for cost reasons. People who had experienced homelessness in the previous year were nearly four times as likely to report “fair” or “poor” health and more than six times as likely to meet the criteria for major or minor depression as their counterparts who had not experienced homelessness. Renters behind on rental payments were more than three and a half times as likely to meet the criteria for depression as those not behind on their payments. Mortgage holders behind on their mortgages or in foreclosure were about three times as likely to report “fair” or “poor” health and more than three and a half times as likely to report an anxiety attack. Among respondents who had ever owned a home, those who had completed a foreclosure were more than five and a half times as likely to meet the criteria for major or minor depression and about three and half times as likely to report an anxiety attack as those who had not experienced foreclosure. However, frequent moves by themselves were not associated with poorer health, and doubling up and eviction were not associated with poorer health after adjusting for characteristics that sort people into different housing instability experiences.

Promising Local Policy Interventions

Research from both Urban and others in the field suggests the following policies could help communities improve this predictor. These suggestions are not exhaustive, and communities should work with residents and leaders to identify solutions that are best suited to their local contexts.

• Providing rental assistance to residents and incentivizing landlords to rent to tenants receiving assistance.
• Adopting rent regulation, eviction prevention, just-cause eviction, and right-to-counsel policies to protect tenants.
• Enacting foreclosure prevention, property tax relief, and rehabilitation assistance programs to assist homeowners. 
• Reforming property taxes and property assessment processes to ensure that they do not disproportionately burden residents with low incomes.
• Creating permanent supportive housing for individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness.

Mobility Dimensions Engaged

• Economic success
• Power and autonomy