Living Conditions Poor

[Hermila Farquhar]

Thissummary of the literature on Quality of Housing as a social determinant of health is a narrowly defined examination that is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all dimensions of the issue. Please note: The terminology used in each summary is consistent with the respective references. For additional information on cross-cutting topics, please see the Crime and Violence, Environmental Conditions, and Housing Instability literature summaries.

In addition, low-income families may be more likely to live in older homes and homes with greater risks that can impact health outcomes.1 For example, these homes may be under-insulated, lack air conditioning, and cost more to heat, leaving homes too hot or too cold, which has been linked to poorer health outcomes.3,4,16 Additionally, limited finances may result in a lack of housing maintenance, which can lead to poor housing conditions inside the home (e.g., damaged appliances, exposed nails, or peeling paint) as well as outside the home (e.g., damage to stairs and windows).6

This microsite is coordinated by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Service members reported to GAO that the conditions of barracks affect their quality of life and readiness. However, GAO found weaknesses in the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to maintain and improve their conditions. For example,

By developing or clarifying guidance related to these weaknesses, DOD could better prioritize investments in barracks to improve living conditions for service members and help ensure that barracks housing programs across military services are consistently implemented and support quality of life and readiness.

The Joint Explanatory Statement and Senate Report 117-39, accompanying bills for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, included provisions for GAO to review DOD's efforts to maintain and improve military barracks. This report examines, among other things, the extent to which DOD has (1) reliably assessed barracks conditions, (2) made informed decisions on barracks funding, and (3) conducted oversight to improve barracks.

GAO analyzed DOD policies, budgets, and other documentation; interviewed DOD housing officials; toured barracks at a non-generalizable sample of 10 installations; and met with installation officials and barracks residents.

GAO is making 31 recommendations for DOD, including the military departments, to, among other things, provide guidance on barracks condition assessments, obtain complete funding information, and increase oversight of barracks programs. DOD concurred with 23 of the recommendations and partially concurred with 8, in some cases noting ongoing actions that would address them. GAO continues to believe DOD should fully implement all of these recommendations.

Worldwide, a child under the age of 15 dies every five seconds, mostly of preventable causes that poverty exacerbates. And though impoverished living conditions are often perceived as confined to cities, the poverty rates in rural areas continue to exceed those in urban areas in several countries, including Romania, Indonesia and the U.S.

In many regions of the world, the number of low-income households far exceeds the affordable housing units available. In the U.S., for every 100 renter households classified as extremely low-income, just 35 rental units are both available and affordable. Globally, the housing affordability gap, meaning the difference between income available for housing and the market price of a standard housing unit in a region, amounts to nearly $650 billion per year.

Nowhere in the U.S. can a worker earning the federal or prevailing state minimum wage rent a two-bedroom apartment without having to pay more than 30% of their income. In fact, a minimum wage worker must clock nearly 127 hours per week, more than three full-time jobs, to afford a two-bedroom rental, or 103 hours per week, more than 2.5 full-time jobs, to afford a one-bedroom, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

But a safe, decent, affordable place to live can make a real difference in the life of a family. Homeownership has long been the primary way for families to build wealth. Homeownership also offers stability because monthly mortgage payments are predictable whereas rents can increase year over year. A stable home is important for academic achievement. Children who change schools as their families move in search of more affordable housing can struggle to keep up academically.

Habitat for Humanity proves that decent housing can be a path out of poverty for families in need of a hand-up, and every day, you help us partner with families in the U.S. and nearly 70 other countries to create stable homes and vibrant neighborhoods.

Together, we have helped millions of people build or improve the place they call home. With your help, we also advocate to improve access to decent and affordable shelter and offer a variety of housing support services that enable families with limited means to make needed improvements on their homes as their time and resources allow.

This article is part of a set of statistical articles that form Eurostat's online publication, Living conditions in Europe. Each article helps provide a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of living conditions in Europe, presenting some key results from the European Union's (EU) statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), which is conducted across EU Member States, as well as most of the EFTA and candidate countries.

The risk of poverty and social exclusion is not dependent strictly on a household's level of income, as it may also reflect joblessness, low work intensity, working status, or a range of other socio-economic characteristics. To calculate the number or share of people who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion three separate measures are combined and this covers those people who are in at least one of these three situations:

In 2023, the risk of poverty or social exclusion was greater across the EU for women (rather than men), young adults (rather than middle-aged or elderly individuals), people with a low level of educational attainment (rather than those with a medium or tertiary level of educational attainment) and, in particular, for unemployed people.

In 2023, there were around 94.6 million people in the EU at risk of poverty or social exclusion, which was equivalent to 21.4 % of the total population. The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, which may be abbreviated as "AROPE", corresponds to the sum of people who are (i) at risk of poverty (as indicated by their disposable income); and/or (ii) face severe material and social deprivation (as gauged by their ability to afford a set of predefined material items or social activities); and/or (iii) live in a household with very low work intensity.

Figure 1 provides an analysis for the EU population of the various risks of poverty or social exclusion. Among the 94.6 million inhabitants within the EU that faced the risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023, some 5.5 million lived in households experiencing simultaneously all three poverty and social exclusion risks. There were 11.2 million people in the EU living both at risk of poverty and in a household with very low work intensity (but not severely materially and socially deprived); 8.9 million were at risk of poverty and at the same time severely materially and socially deprived (but not in a household with very low work intensity); almost 2.0 million lived in households with very low work intensity while experiencing severe material deprivation (but were not at risk of poverty).

Women, young adults aged 18-24 years, people with a low level of educational attainment and unemployed people were, on average, more likely to be at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023 than other groups within the EU population (see Figure 2).

In the EU, 66.3 % of the unemployed aged 18 years and over were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023. Inactive people (other than in retirement) faced the second-highest risk on the basis of an analysis by activity status, with 43.2 % at risk. For comparison, the share of people in retirement who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion was 18.7 % and the share of employed persons in such situation was 11.3 %.

The data used in this article are derived from EU-SILC. EU-SILC data are compiled annually and are the main source of statistics that measure income and living conditions in Europe; it is also the main source of information used to link different aspects relating to the quality of life of households and individuals.

The reference population for the information presented in this article is all private households and their current members residing in the territory of an EU Member State (or non-EU member country) at the time of data collection; people living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target population. The data for the EU are population-weighted averages of national data.

At risk of poverty or social exclusion, abbreviated as AROPE, corresponds to the sum of people who are either at risk of poverty, or severely materially and socially deprived or living in a household with a very low work intensity. People are included only once even if they are in more than one of these situations. The AROPE ratio is the share of the total population which is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The headline target (EU2030 target) on poverty and social inclusion of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan is to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030. Progress towards this target is monitored through the AROPE rate, published by Eurostat.

In 2021, the AROPE indicator was modified. The severe material deprivation rate component was revised, defining a new severe material and social deprivation rate (SMSD) based on a revised list of items, and the low work intensity indicator relating to people living in a household with a very low work intensity was redefined. The revised AROPE indicator is used to monitor the headline target on poverty and social inclusion of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.

3a8082e126