IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v162y2016icp88-96.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The health effects of the foreclosure crisis and unaffordable housing: A systematic review and explanation of evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Downing, Janelle

Abstract

The foreclosure crisis was detrimental to the financial well-being of many households, yet the non-economic consequences are still poorly understood. This systematic review aims to understand the direct and spillover effect of foreclosures on several health-related outcomes by synthesizing evidence from 40 studies. First, this study identifies research gaps using a schema to organize studies by line of inquiry, health-related outcome, and measure of homeowner financial distress. In order to provide context for the findings, four pathways – stress, effect-budgeting, frustration-aggression, and trust – evoked in the literature are described to explain the relationship between foreclosures and health. The research suggests that experiencing a foreclosure and living near foreclosures are associated with poor psychological and behavioral morbidities, namely anxiety and violent behavior, and declining health utilization. Evidence is sparse on suicide, substance abuse, somatic morbidities, and mortality. Future research is needed to fill the gaps and explicitly test the mechanisms proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Downing, Janelle, 2016. "The health effects of the foreclosure crisis and unaffordable housing: A systematic review and explanation of evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 88-96.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:162:y:2016:i:c:p:88-96
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.06.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616302957
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.06.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janet Currie & Erdal Tekin, 2015. "Is There a Link between Foreclosure and Health?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 63-94, February.
    2. Michael Stone, 2006. "What is housing affordability? The case for the residual income approach," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 151-184.
    3. Mason, Kate E. & Baker, Emma & Blakely, Tony & Bentley, Rebecca J., 2013. "Housing affordability and mental health: Does the relationship differ for renters and home purchasers?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 91-97.
    4. Brown, Sarah & Taylor, Karl & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 2005. "Debt and distress: Evaluating the psychological cost of credit," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 642-663, October.
    5. Mr. Marcello M. Estevão & Ms. Evridiki Tsounta, 2011. "Has the Great Recession Raised U.S. Structural Unemployment?," IMF Working Papers 2011/105, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2013. "The Determinants of Attitudes toward Strategic Default on Mortgages," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1473-1515, August.
    7. Alley, D.E. & Lloyd, J. & Pagán, J.A. & Pollack, C.E. & Shardell, M. & Cannuscio, C., 2011. "Mortgage delinquency and changes in access to health resources and depressive symptoms in a nationally representative cohort of Americans older than 50 years," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(12), pages 2293-2298.
    8. Buiter, Willem H., 2010. "Housing wealth isn't wealth," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 4, pages 1-29.
    9. Lauren M. Ross & Gregory D. Squires, 2011. "The Personal Costs of Subprime Lending and the Foreclosure Crisis: A Matter of Trust, Insecurity, and Institutional Deception," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 92(1), pages 140-163, March.
    10. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2007. "Baby Boomer retirement security: The roles of planning, financial literacy, and housing wealth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 205-224, January.
    11. Elizabeth Laderman & Carolina Reid, 2009. "The untold costs of subprime lending: examining the links among higher-priced lending, foreclosures and race in California," Community Development Working Paper 2009-09, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    12. Mark R. Lindblad & Sarah F. Riley, 2015. "Loan Modifications and Foreclosure Sales during the Financial Crisis: Consequences for Health and Stress," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 1092-1115, October.
    13. Cui, Lin & Walsh, Randall, 2015. "Foreclosure, vacancy and crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 72-84.
    14. Burgard, Sarah A. & Seefeldt, Kristin S. & Zelner, Sarah, 2012. "Housing instability and health: Findings from the Michigan recession and recovery study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2215-2224.
    15. Zhenguo Lin & Eric Rosenblatt & Vincent Yao, 2009. "Spillover Effects of Foreclosures on Neighborhood Property Values," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 387-407, May.
    16. Ellen, Ingrid Gould & Lacoe, Johanna & Sharygin, Claudia Ayanna, 2013. "Do foreclosures cause crime?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 59-70.
    17. Paul S. Calem & Kevin Gillen & Susan Wachter, 2004. "The Neighborhood Distribution of Subprime Mortgage Lending," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 393-410, December.
    18. Pollack, C.E. & Lynch, J., 2009. "Health status of people undergoing foreclosure in the Philadelphia region," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(10), pages 1833-1839.
    19. Yilmazer, Tansel & Babiarz, Patryk & Liu, Fen, 2015. "The impact of diminished housing wealth on health in the United States: Evidence from the Great Recession," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 234-241.
    20. Katharine L. Bradbury & Mary A. Burke & Robert K. Triest, 2014. "Within-school spillover effects of foreclosures and student mobility on student academic performance," Working Papers 15-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    21. Arcaya, M. & Glymour, M.M. & Chakrabarti, P. & Christakis, N.A. & Kawachi, I. & Subramanian, S.V., 2013. "Effects of proximate foreclosed properties on individuals' weight gain in Massachusetts, 1987-2008," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(9), pages 50-56.
    22. Thomas D. Stucky & John R. Ottensmann & Seth B. Payton, 2012. "The Effect of Foreclosures on Crime in I ndianapolis, 2003–2008," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 93(3), pages 602-624, September.
    23. Eric P. Baumer & Kevin T. Wolff & Ashley N. Arnio, 2012. "A Multicity Neighborhood Analysis of Foreclosure and Crime," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 93(3), pages 577-601, September.
    24. Houle, Jason N., 2014. "Mental health in the foreclosure crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 1-8.
    25. Cagney, K.A. & Browning, C.R. & Iveniuk, J. & English, N., 2014. "The onset of depression during the great recession: Foreclosure and older adult mental health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(3), pages 498-505.
    26. Anne B. Shlay, 2006. "Low-income Homeownership: American Dream or Delusion?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(3), pages 511-531, March.
    27. Karahan, Fatih & Rhee, Serena, 2019. "Geographic reallocation and unemployment during the Great Recession: The role of the housing bust," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 47-69.
    28. Clayton, Maya & Liñares-Zegarra, José & Wilson, John O.S., 2015. "Does debt affect health? Cross country evidence on the debt-health nexus," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 51-58.
    29. Houle, J.N. & Light, M.T., 2014. "The home foreclosure crisis and rising suicide rates, 2005 to 2010," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1073-1079.
    30. David S. Kirk & Derek S. Hyra, 2012. "Home Foreclosures and Community Crime: Causal or Spurious Association?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 93(3), pages 648-670, September.
    31. Fowler, K.A. & Gladden, R.M. & Vagi, K.J. & Barnes, J. & Frazier, L., 2015. "Increase in suicides associated with home eviction and foreclosure during the US housing crisis: Findings from 16 national violent death reporting system states, 2005-2010," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(2), pages 311-316.
    32. Rogers, William H. & Winkler, Anne E., 2013. "The Relationship between the Housing & Labor Market Crises and Doubling-Up: An MSA-Level Analysis, 2005-2010," IZA Discussion Papers 7263, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Park, Gum-Ryeong, 2024. "Housing cost burden and external causes of mortality: Variations across housing regimes in high-income countries, 2010–2020," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    2. Sánchez-Ledesma, Esther & Vásquez-Vera, Hugo & Sagarra, Natàlia & Peralta, Andrés & Porthé, Victoria & Díez, Èlia, 2020. "Perceived pathways between tourism gentrification and health: A participatory Photovoice study in the Gòtic neighborhood in Barcelona," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    3. Ports, Katie A. & Tang, Shichao & Treves-Kagan, Sarah & Rostad, Whitney, 2021. "Breaking the cycle of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Economic position moderates the relationship between mother and child ACE scores among Black and Hispanic families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    4. Atalay, Kadir & Edwards, Rebecca & Liu, Betty Y.J., 2017. "Effects of house prices on health: New evidence from Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 36-48.
    5. Encarnación Sarriá & Patricia Recio & Ana Rico & Manuel Díaz-Olalla & Belén Sanz-Barbero & Alba Ayala & María Victoria Zunzunegui, 2019. "Financial Fraud, Mental Health, and Quality of Life: A Study on the Population of the City of Madrid, Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-14, September.
    6. Vásquez-Vera, Hugo & Palència, Laia & Magna, Ingrid & Mena, Carlos & Neira, Jaime & Borrell, Carme, 2017. "The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 199-208.
    7. Yosi Borochov & Boris A. Portnov, 2021. "Estimating Environmentally Adjusted Risks of Mortgage Arrears for Different Socioeconomic Groups of Borrowers," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 595-620.
    8. Benjamin W. Chrisinger & Sparkle Springfield & Eric A. Whitsel & Aladdin H. Shadyab & Jessica L. Krok-Schoen & Lorena Garcia & Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson & Marcia L. Stefanick, 2022. "The Association of Neighborhood Changes with Health-Related Quality of Life in the Women’s Health Initiative," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Vieira, Kelmara Mendes & Potrich, Ani Caroline Grigion & Bressan, Aureliano Angel & Klein, Leander Luiz, 2021. "Loss of financial well-being in the COVID-19 pandemic: Does job stability make a difference?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    10. Vicki Been & Ingrid Ellen & David N. Figlio & Ashlyn Nelson & Stephen Ross & Amy Ellen Schwartz & Leanna Stiefel, 2021. "The Effects of Negative Equity on Children’s Educational Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 28428, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Galárraga, Omar & Rana, Aadia & Rahman, Momotazur & Cohen, Mardge & Adimora, Adaora A. & Sosanya, Oluwakemi & Holman, Susan & Kassaye, Seble & Milam, Joel & Cohen, Jennifer & Golub, Elizabeth T. & Met, 2018. "The effect of unstable housing on HIV treatment biomarkers: An instrumental variables approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 70-82.
    12. Brüggen, Elisabeth C. & Hogreve, Jens & Holmlund, Maria & Kabadayi, Sertan & Löfgren, Martin, 2017. "Financial well-being: A conceptualization and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 228-237.
    13. Emma Baker & Andrew Beer & Laurence Lester & David Pevalin & Christine Whitehead & Rebecca Bentley, 2017. "Is Housing a Health Insult?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Roshanak Mehdipanah & Amy J. Schulz & Barbara A. Israel & Graciela Mentz & Alexa Eisenberg & Carmen Stokes & Zachary Rowe, 2017. "Neighborhood Context, Homeownership and Home Value: An Ecological Analysis of Implications for Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-15, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janelle Downing & Andrew Karter & Hector Rodriguez & William H Dow & Nancy Adler & Dean Schillinger & Margaret Warton & Barbara Laraia, 2016. "No Spillover Effect of the Foreclosure Crisis on Weight Change: The Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-11, March.
    2. Vásquez-Vera, Hugo & Palència, Laia & Magna, Ingrid & Mena, Carlos & Neira, Jaime & Borrell, Carme, 2017. "The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 199-208.
    3. Alexander C Tsai, 2015. "Home Foreclosure, Health, and Mental Health: A Systematic Review of Individual, Aggregate, and Contextual Associations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Houle, Jason N. & Light, Michael T., 2017. "The harder they fall? Sex and race/ethnic specific suicide rates in the U.S. foreclosure crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 114-124.
    5. Charters, Thomas J. & Harper, Sam & Strumpf, Erin C. & Subramanian, S.V. & Arcaya, Mariana & Nandi, Arijit, 2016. "The effect of metropolitan-area mortgage delinquency on health behaviors, access to health services, and self-rated health in the United States, 2003–2010," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 74-82.
    6. Hoke, Morgan K. & Boen, Courtney E., 2021. "The health impacts of eviction: Evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent to adult health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    7. Spader, Jonathan & Schuetz, Jenny & Cortes, Alvaro, 2016. "Fewer vacants, fewer crimes? Impacts of neighborhood revitalization policies on crime," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 73-84.
    8. Houle, Jason N., 2014. "Mental health in the foreclosure crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 1-8.
    9. Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson & Dawn P. Misra, 2019. "Neighborhood Tax Foreclosures, Educational Attainment, and Preterm Birth among Urban African American Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-13, March.
    10. Susan J Smith & Melek Cigdem & Rachel Ong & Gavin Wood, 2017. "Wellbeing at the edges of ownership," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(5), pages 1080-1098, May.
    11. Atalay, Kadir & Edwards, Rebecca & Liu, Betty Y.J., 2017. "Effects of house prices on health: New evidence from Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 36-48.
    12. Leigh Ann Leung & Catherine Lau, 2017. "Effect of mortgage indebtedness on health of U.S. homeowners," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 239-264, March.
    13. Matthew Hall & Kyle Crowder & Amy Spring, 2015. "Variations in Housing Foreclosures by Race and Place, 2005–2012," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 660(1), pages 217-237, July.
    14. John P. Harding & Jing Li & Stuart S. Rosenthal & Xirui Zhang, 2022. "Forced moves and home maintenance: The amplifying effects of mortgage payment burden on underwater homeowners," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(2), pages 498-533, June.
    15. Min Zhou & Wei Guo, 2023. "Self-rated Health and Objective Health Status Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China: A Healthy Housing Perspective," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-24, February.
    16. Emily S. Taylor Poppe, 2016. "Homeowner Representation in the Foreclosure Crisis," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(4), pages 809-836, December.
    17. Wilkinson, Lindsay R. & Schafer, Markus H. & Wilkinson, Renae, 2020. "How painful is a recession? An assessment of two future-oriented buffering mechanisms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    18. De, Prabal K. & Segura-Escano, Raul, 2021. "Drinking during downturn: New evidence from the housing market fluctuations in the United States during the Great Recession," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    19. Nazim Habibov & Alena Auchynnikava & Rong Luo & Lida Fan, 2019. "Effects of the 2008 global financial crisis on population health," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 327-353, January.
    20. Damian Damianov & Cheng Yan & Xiangdong Wang, 2018. "Measures of mortgage default risk and local house price dynamics ," ERES eres2018_163, European Real Estate Society (ERES).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:162:y:2016:i:c:p:88-96. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.