WIndicator Report Explores How Rising Housing Costs Impact Food Security and Rural Health

By Julie Walker, NLIHC Project Manager, Opportunity Starts at Home 

WIndicator, a short-form series from the University of Wisconsin-Madison that reviews data surrounding issues relevant to Wisconsin communities, shared an article, “The Impact of Housing Financial Stress and Food Insecurity on Rural Health,” examining how housing cost burdens and food access shape rural health outcomes. The authors first demonstrate an association between housing insecurity, food insecurity, poverty, and rural health at the national level, and then draw from 32 interviews with residents of 17 Wisconsin counties to further explore the associations within the state. The interviews reveal how fewer food options in rural areas, rising grocery prices, and stigma around housing and nutrition assistance result in households cutting back on nutritious foods in response to rental cost burdens, which directly impacts health.  

The authors use data from the American Community Survey (ACS), CDC Places, Feeding America, and the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program to analyze housing financial stress, chronic health, food insecurity, and poverty in 1,947 rural U.S. counties. Housing financial stress is defined as the share of households spending more than 30% of their income on housing, otherwise known as housing cost burden, and chronic health measures the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and obesity. The report’s analysis finds a strong positive relationship between the rate of poverty and chronic illness at the county level, as well as an association between rising food insecurity and rising poverty, suggesting that poverty and food-insecurity coexist in many low-income households. Analysis of housing financial stress by income level shows that lower-income households face a higher rate of housing stress compared to more affluent households, and housing stress is nearly unavoidable for households with the lowest incomes. While wealthier counties have less housing financial stress and better overall health on average, the authors find that wealthier counties also have higher rates of housing stress among low-income households.  

While the impact on low-income households’ health is obscured in the data from wealthier counties, the authors draw from interviews with rural Wisconsin residents to better understand how housing financial stress and food insecurity impact health. Interviews across 17 Wisconsin counties reveal that rural residents with low incomes prioritize housing costs over nutrition in response to rising housing and grocery costs. Many people interviewed shared that they rely on cheap or donated food options, which often are less nutritious than higher cost options. Residents in more remote rural areas described transportation barriers to accessing grocery stores at further distances, and the need to prioritize accessibility over nutrition. Interviewees also expressed a stigma around receiving assistance in small towns where privacy is limited, which discourages some residents from accessing resources.  

The authors conclude by emphasizing that understanding what drives rural health outcomes requires looking at multiple indicators. Essential to that understanding is paying attention to the trade-offs households with low incomes must make and what social pressures may impact their access to support.  

Read the article.  

To learn more about the connections between housing and food security, read the OSAH fact sheet.