Select Key Metrics on Housing Stability & Affordability

Eviction Rates Eviction Rates

Percent of rentals with eviction filings.

 Severe Housing Problems Severe Housing Problems

Percent of households with at least 1 of 4 housing problems: cost burden, overcrowding, lack of kitchen facilities, or lack of plumbing facilities.

 

 Homelessness Homelessness

Percent of Philadelphians experiencing homelessness.

Background

Eviction

Black tenants are substantially over-represented among households facing an eviction filing.

 

In 2018-2019, less than half of Philadelphia tenants were Black, yet 65.9% eviction filing defendants were Black. By contrast, white Philadelphians account for a third of tenants but just 17.3% of eviction filings.

Evictions by Race/Ethnicity

Source: Evictions in Philadelphia: Race (and Place) Matters, Reinvestment Fund | February 2021 

Severe Housing Problems

Black and Hispanic households experience the highest rates of cost burden in Philadelphia. This means they spend 30% or more of their income on housing costs, including rent, mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, and property taxes.

This may reflect the city’s high poverty rate among Black and Hispanic residents. 

 

Homelessness

Non-Hispanic Black Philadelphians represented 79% of all people served in housing crisis and assistance programs from July 2018 to July 2019 but made up only 44% of the city’s population.

Housing Cost Burden

Source: Pew analysis of U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Public Use Microdata Sample (2018 one-year estimates)

 

Housing has major implications for people’s health. Even after adjusting for individual clinical, behavioral, and demographic risk factors: 

Lungs

Housing quality is significantly associated with risk for childhood asthma.

 low birthweight

Maternal housing instability significantly predicts low birth weight.

 Brain

Poverty and age of housing in Philadelphia are associated with elevated blood lead levels in children, which can have irreversible effects on brain development.

SYSTEMIC DRIVERS OF DISPARITIES

Discriminatory mortgage lending policies such as redlining and restrictive covenants have contributed to residential segregation, limited housing opportunities for Black Philadelphians, and lowered property values in majority-Black neighborhoods.

Socioeconomic disadvantage in Black communities and communities with lower incomes contributes to continued disinvestment in these neighborhoods, further reducing property values and increasing economic instability.

Racial discrimination compounds historical disenfranchisement. In Philadelphia, evictions are more likely to occur in predominantly Black neighborhoods regardless of neighborhood median income and share of rental housing.

Ongoing Efforts in the Philadelphia Community 

Temple Health, Keystone First, Health Partners Plan, and Resources for Human Development, Inc are collaborating on the “Housing Smart” pilot program, which aims to improve the health of homeless patients by providing them with housing subsidies and support services. Thus far, there has been a 75% decrease in emergency department visits and 79% decrease in inpatient admissions among participants in the program.

Efforts listed here may be independent of Accelerate Health Equity. Check back to learn about a broader list of health equity efforts.