Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34144434›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2021

Does rental assistance improve mental health? Insights from a longitudinal cohort study.

Whitney Denary, Andrew Fenelon, Penelope Schlesinger, Jonathan Purtle, Kim M Blankenship, Danya E Keene

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  11. Do Rental Assistance Programs Relieve Overcrowding for Children?Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2025
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  16. Intersection of adverse childhood experiences, suicide and overdose prevention.Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention · 2024
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Whitney DenaryDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: whitney.denary@yale.edu.
Andrew FenelonSchool of Public Policy and Department of Sociology and Criminology, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Penelope SchlesingerDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA.
Jonathan PurtleDepartment of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Kim M BlankenshipDepartment of Sociology, American University, Washington, DC, USA.
Danya E KeeneDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA.

Funding

Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (U Component)UL1TR001863 · NCATS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI John H. Krystal, LUCILA OHNO-MACHADO · 2016 to 2026
$102.9M
Social Determinants of HIV: The Intersecting Impacts of Mass Incarceration, Housing Stability, and Subsidized Housing PoliciesR01MH110192 · NIMH · DREXEL UNIVERSITY · PI BLANKENSHIP, KIM M. · 2016 to 2020
$3.3M
The effects of affordable housing access on type 2 diabetes self-management and controlR01DK124500 · NIDDK · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI KEENE, DANYA · 2020 to 2024
$2.4M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001863NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK124500NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH110192
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Almost half of renters in the United States are rent-burdened, meaning that they pay more than 30% of their income toward housing costs. Rental assistance through programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleviates these financial strains for around 5 million households. However, due to budgetary constraints, fewer than one in four eligible households actually receive this assistance and waitlists average two years nationally. Using longitudinal data from a cohort of 400 low-income adults living in New Haven, CT, this paper investigates how access to rental assistance affects mental health through two analytical methods that address selection into rental assistance. First, we performed a cross-sectional analysis to identify how psychological distress differs among those receiving and those on a waitlist for rental assistance. Second, we used a within-person fixed-effects analysis to compare changes in individuals following entry into rental assistance. We find that those receiving rental assistance report significantly less psychological distress than those on waiting lists and that transitions into rental assistance are associated with statistically non-significant decreases in psychological distress. Our findings suggest that expanding rental assistance may be one potential step toward improving the mental health of low-income individuals in the United States.

Indexed as

HousingMental HealthAdultCross-Sectional StudiesHumansLongitudinal StudiesPovertyUnited StatesHousing affordabilityHousing policyMental healthPsychological distressRental assistance

Identifiers

PMID34144434
PMCPMC8299474

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.