New data on health across the U.S. shows that high housing costs are harming Americans’ health – and that some communities are affected more than others.

美国各地最新的健康数据显示,高昂的住房成本正在损害美国人的健康,一些社区受到的影响比其他社区更大。
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The 2019 County Health Rankings, an annual collaborative report from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows that 11 percent of U.S. households are severely burdened by housing costs. This means that more than 800,000 households spend at least half of their income on housing.

威斯康辛大学人口健康研究所和罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会联合发布的《2019年县健康排行榜》显示,11%的美国家庭承受着沉重的住房负担。这意味着80多万家庭将至少一半的收入用于住房。

In communities with high housing costs, residents rate their health as lower, are less likely to be able to purchase enough quality and nutritious foods, and have higher rates of child poverty. As a health researcher, this is a theme that I have seen in studies over and over again.

在住房成本高的社区,居民认为他们的健康水平较低,购买足够优质营养食品的可能性较小,儿童贫困率较高。作为一名健康研究者,这是我在研究中反复看到的一个主题。

The most burdened households
While many communities face high housing costs, these burdens are not universally shared. Renters are more likely than house buyer to spend more than half of their paycheck on housing. The cost of renting has been increasing in the past few years.

负担最重的家庭
虽然许多社区面临着高昂的住房成本,但这些负担并不是普遍分担的。租房者比买房者更有可能把他们工资的一半以上花在住房上。租房的成本在过去几年日益提高。
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There are also racial differences. More than 1 in 10 white households spend more than half of their income on housing, with a median income of US$56,000. But among households headed by blacks, the median income is $33,000 – and about 1 in 4 black households experience these housing costs burdens.
Another key finding from the County Health Rankings report is that segregated communities with more households headed by black residents are twice as likely to face severe housing cost burdens than white households.

此外还有种族差异。超过十分之一的白人家庭将其收入的一半以上用于住房,平均收入为5.6万美元。但在以黑人为户主的家庭中,平均收入为3.3万美元——大约四分之一的黑人家庭承受着这些住房成本负担。
县健康排名报告的另一个重要发现是,黑人家庭较多的隔离社区,面临严重住房成本负担的可能性是白人家庭的两倍。

Why are black Americans more likely to spend so much of their incomes on housing? One reason is that black neighborhoods were targeted in a process called redlining, especially between the 1930s and 1965. Banks and other lenders excluded black communities from favorable loans and charged higher interest rates on mortgages, leading to higher housing costs – even when homes were valued less than similar homes in white communities.

为什么美国黑人更有可能把这么多收入花在住房上呢? 其中一个原因是,黑人社区在一个被称为“经济歧视”的程序中成为目标,尤其是在上世纪30年代至1965年间。银行和其他贷款机构将黑人社区排除在优惠贷款之外,并收取更高的抵押贷款利率,这导致了更高的住房成本——即使在白人社区的房屋价值低于同类房屋时也是如此。
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Redlining is not explicitly practiced in the same way today, but its damage and discrimination remains – such as how banks targeted black homeowners with subprime loans. The consequences of this became clear in the 2008 recession, when black homeowners suffered worse outcomes compared to white homeowners. These practices led to higher foreclosure rates and steeper declines in home values during and after the recession, limiting opportunities for black communities to build wealth through homeownership.

如今,“经济歧视”并没有以同样的方式得到明确实施,但其损害和歧视依然存在——比如银行如何以次级贷款针对黑人房主。在2008年的经济衰退中,这一现象的后果变得很明显,当时黑人房主比白人房主遭受的后果更糟糕。在经济衰退期间和之后,这些做法导致了更高的止赎率和房价的急剧下跌,限制了黑人社区通过自有住房积累财富的机会。
(注:购房者按期还款给放贷的机构,这个过程称为‘赎回’。如果出现购买者因故不能按期还贷,超过期限的房屋便被‘止赎’,停止赎回。房屋便归放贷机构所有)

Effects on health
There is a powerful relationship between housing and health. When people pay too much for housing, they must make tough choices between paying their rent or mortgage or paying for food, medicine and other resources that support their health. In 2015, households that are burdened by housing costs spent 53 percent less on health care, food and transportation combined, compared to households that do not spend more than half of their income on housing.

对健康的影响
住房和健康之间有很强的关系。当人们为住房付出太多时,他们必须做出艰难的选择,是支付房租、抵押贷款,还是支付食品、药品和其他维持他们健康的资源。2015年,住房成本负担沉重的家庭在医疗、食品和交通方面的支出加起来,比住房花费不超过收入一半的家庭少53%。

To afford housing, some families spend less on food, do not buy enough food, or buy less nutritious and cheaper food. These families may also live in homes with structural deficits and other inadequacies, where they are at higher risk for health conditions like lead paint poisoning and asthma.

为了负担得起住房,一些家庭在食物上花费更少,没有购买足够的食物,或者购买营养更少和更便宜的食物。这些家庭也可能是生活在结构缺陷和其他不足的家庭,在那里他们面临着更高的健康风险,如铅涂料中毒和哮喘。

Research shows that segregated communities are more likely to be exposed to more threats to their health. For example, a study published in March showed that black and Hispanic populations are exposed to 56 percent and 63 percent more air pollution compared to white residents, even though white residents are more likely to contribute to pollution.

研究表明,种族隔离的社区更有可能面临更多的健康威胁。例如,今年3月发表的一项研究显示,与白人居民相比,黑人和西班牙裔居民受到的空气污染分别高出56%和63%,尽管白人居民更有可能造成污染。

Segregated communities are also less likely to have resources in their communities that promote health and help prevent chronic diseases, like obesity and diabetes. Even if black families were not overly burdened by housing costs, they still are more likely to need to leave their own neighborhoods to access fresh and nutritious foods, quality health care services and places to exercise. And black residents living in segregated neighborhoods are also more likely to die prematurely.

隔离社区在其社区中也不太可能拥有促进健康和帮助预防慢性疾病(如肥胖和糖尿病)的资源。即使黑人家庭没有过多的住房负担,他们仍然更有可能需要离开自己的社区,去获得新鲜和营养丰富的食物、优质的医疗服务和锻炼场所。生活在种族隔离社区的黑人居民也更有可能过早死亡。
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I recently co-authored a paper, led by University of Maryland professor Caryn Bell, that shows that counties with 9 percent or more black residents are more likely to have resources that compromise health, such as fast food restaurants, and less likely to have resources that promote health, such as grocery stores. Research has shown that this is important, due to the relationship between access to health-promoting resources, like grocery stores, and lower obesity rates.

最近,我与人合著了一篇由马里兰大学教授卡琳·贝尔领导的论文,该论文显示,黑人人口比例在9%或以上的县,更有可能拥有危及健康的资源,比如快餐店,而拥有促进健康的资源的可能性则较小,比如杂货店。研究表明,这一点很重要,因为杂货店等促进健康的资源与较低的肥胖率之间存在联系。

A growing problem
As housing costs have risen, incomes have not kept pace. Additionally, affordable housing is not available to everyone who needs it. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reported in March that only 37 affordable homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. No state has enough homes for every extremely low-income renter household, which are the majority of households that are severely housing cost burdened.

一个日益严重的问题
随着住房成本的上升,人们的收入没有跟上步伐。此外,并不是所有需要经济适用房的人都能买得起。全国低收入住房联盟在3月份报告中说,每100个极低收入租房家庭中,只有37个负担得起住房。没有一个州能为每一个极低收入的租房者家庭提供足够的住房,他们是住房成本负担严重的大多数家庭。

Incomes are stagnating while housing costs, especially renting, continue to rise. As these two forces combine to limit opportunity, more U.S. residents are at risk of becoming burdened by their housing costs and damaging their health, especially low-income and black Americans.

收入停滞不前,而住房成本尤其是租房成本,却在继续上涨。由于这两股力量结合在一起限制了机会,越来越多的美国居民面临着住房成本增加、健康受损的风险,尤其是低收入和黑人居民。

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