5: Additional Resources

Housing that is free from physical hazards such as mold, lead, excess water, pests or poor electrical.

Housing that enables people to live, learn and work to their full potential.

Housing free from environmental threats such as unsafe streets, violence, poor air quality, industrial chemical exposure, allergens, mold or pests. Housing in healthy and well-resourced neighborhoods with robust social and cultural networks, and connections to good employment and business opportunities. The cost of living there does not divert household income away from healthy food, medical care or educational opportunities.³¹

Providing resources according to the need to help diverse populations achieve their highest state of health and other functioning. Equity is an ongoing process of assessing needs, correcting historical inequities, and creating conditions for optimal outcomes by members of all social identity groups (APA, 2021b)

Ensuring that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care (APA, Braveman et al., 2017).

Avoidable differences in health outcomes experienced by people with one characteristic (race, gender, sexual orientation) as compared to the socially dominant group (e.g., white, male, cis-gender, heterosexual, etc.). Use this term when: Comparing one population’s experience to the experience of the population with the greatest social or economic privilege. (SHVS)

Differences that are unfair and unjust without comparison to another group. Use this term when: A population experiences outcomes that are different than expected based on population size or the average outcome. (SHVS)

SDoH are the daily context in which people live, work, play, pray, and age and that affect health. SDoH encompass multiple levels of experience from social risk factors (such as socioeconomic status, education, and employment) to structural and environmental factors (such as structural racism and poverty created by economic, political, and social policies). These latter factors are also known as upstream factors or root causes of inequities. Factors closer to the individual level are known as downstream factors. (SHVS)

The health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group. Population health includes health outcomes, patterns of health determinants, and policies and interventions that link these two. Attention to social and environmental, as well as medical, determinants of health is essential (APA, Silberberg et al., 2019).

SES encompasses not only income but also educational attainment, occupational prestige, and subjective perceptions of social status and social class. SES encompasses quality-of-life attributes and opportunities afforded to people within society and is a consistent predictor of a vast array of psychological outcomes (APA, 2019a). 

A complex system, rooted in historical and current realities of differential access to power and opportunity for different racial groups. This system is embedded within and across laws, structures, and institutions in a society or organization. This includes laws, inherited disadvantages (e.g., the intergenerational impact of trauma) and advantages (e.g., intergenerational transfers of wealth), and standards and norms rooted in racism. (SHVS)

• Houses and apartments built before 1978 have a high likelihood of containing lead paint and lead dust, often hidden under layers of newer paint, often hard to detect. Lead can also be found in water, ceramics and toys, and in soil.
• Lead and lead dust can harm a child’s brain and cause lifelong learning and behavior problems, even when inhaled or ingested in minuscule amounts. Children with lead poisoning are seven times more likely to drop out of school and six times more likely to become involved in the juvenile justice system.³² Lead poisoning also impacts adults and can result in a 46 percent increased rate of early mortality.³³
• Each dollar invested in lead paint hazard control results in a return of $17 to $221 in savings from reduced costs related to crime, delinquency and special education.³⁴

• Hazards in the home—such as mold, dust mites, cigarette smoke, wood-burning stoves, pest droppings, nitrogen dioxide and chemical irritants —can trigger and exacerbate asthma symptoms.
• Asthma impacts an average of 1 out of every 10 school-aged children³⁵ and afflicts 25.7 million Americans each year, causing:
  • 774,000 emergency room visits³⁶
  • 14 million missed school days³⁷
• Asthma causes more than $56 billion in economic costs annually.³⁸ Forty percent of asthma episodes are caused by preventable triggers in the home and represent $5 billion annually in preventable medical costs.³⁹

• Mold grows in warm, damp conditions and can cause respiratory issues. Mold can be found in basements, around windows where condensation collects, in or around air conditioners, and in places where there is leaking water.
• Mold and moisture can trigger asthma symptoms, cause eye and skin irritation, and coughing and wheezing.
• Mold can trigger asthma, which is a health condition that causes more than $56 billion in economic costs annually.⁴⁰ Forty percent of asthma episodes are caused by preventable triggers in the home and represent $5 billion annually in preventable medical costs.⁴¹

• Any home built before 1980 is likely to contain asbestos, usually found in walls and roofing. Asbestos can be found in manufactured products and building materials used in the home, such as insulation, fireproofing and floor tiles. When these products and materials are disturbed, asbestos fibers are released into the air.⁴²
• Asbestos can increase the risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining of the chest and abdominal cavity) and asbestosis (a condition where lungs become scarred with fibrous tissue). Children are at an increased risk of exposure because their lungs are smaller and they breathe at a faster rate, meaning they can inhale more asbestos fibers with every breath.⁴³