Leveraging Administrative Data Linkages Between Housing-insecurity Interventions, Social Needs, and Obesity

May 2023 Council

Lead Division/Office

OOR, DDN, DEM

Point(s) of Contact

Mary Evans; Diana Cummings; Jenna Norton; Shavon Artis Dickerson; Ken Wilkins

Executive Summary

Historical and contemporary housing-related policies, including segregation, discrimination, and red-lining have had long-term adverse consequences on marginalized and minoritized populations including inequitable distribution of resources and disproportionate experiences of housing insecurity and instability. Households with housing insecurity are also more likely to live in lower-resourced, high poverty neighborhoods with higher exposure to environments with lower education quality, an inadequate supply of healthy and affordable food, transportation challenges, violence and crime, a lack of safe greenspace and resources for physical activity, and reduced access to healthcare. This initiative would provide support for projects seeking to evaluate whether and how participation in programs addressing housing insecurity influence obesity outcomes using advanced computational approaches to analyze existing housing and health-related data available through data linkages made available by Federal, State or local governments, and/or other large organizations. Applicants would be encouraged to examine factors such as multi-level neighborhood variables and other underlying social determinants of health (e.g., food insecurity, transportation, healthcare access, etc.) as well as participation in social services/programs, as available. A focus on health outcomes across the lifespan and in populations experiencing or at risk for obesity-related health disparities is expected.