Affordable Housing Helps Optimize Children's Brainpower

A recent study published in the Journal of Housing Economics and Housing Policy Debate examines how important the housing environment can be for a child's learning.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University examined the effects of affordable housing on the cognitive development, physical health and emotional well-being of children living in poverty. Findings revealed that while the amount of money spent on housing had no effect on a child's physical or social health, their cognitive abilities could be harmed by inadequate surroundings. For instance, when a family spent more than half of their income on housing, their children's reading and math scores took a hit. However, lead study author Sandra J. Newman, a John Hopkins professor of policy studies, also found that families who spent less than 20 percent of their income on housing, saw a similar issue with their children.

"Families spending about 30 percent of their income on housing had children with the best cognitive outcomes," said Newman, who is also director of the university's Center on Housing, Neighborhoods and Communities, in a news release. "It's worse when you pay too little and worse when you pay too much."

The researchers looked at data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplements and information from the 2004-2009 Consumer Expenditure Surveys. They also studied families with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline.

Findings showed that more than 88 percent of renters with the lowest incomes spent about 30 percent of their income on rent, according to the 2009 American Community Survey.

However, those that spent less on their housing tended to also spend less on books and educational materials in general involved in the healthy development of their child. Many of these families were in distressed neighborhoods that took a toll on their children's educational growth.

"The markedly poorer performance of children in families with extremely low housing cost burdens undercuts the housing policy assumption that a lower housing cost burden is always best," Newman said. "Rather than finding a bargain in a good neighborhood, they're living in low-quality housing with spillover effects on their children's development."

Researchers found that families who obtained affordable housing were likely to spend around 30 percent of their income on it and more on the educational enrichment of their children. 

"People are making trade-offs," Holupka said, "and those trade-offs have implications for their children."