Rental Housing Type and Self-Reported General Health and Mental Health Status: Evidence from the Canadian Housing Survey 2018–2019

Abstract

Using the Canadian Housing Survey, 2018–2019, we examined self-reported general and mental health among tenants residing in various housing types, including cooperative, non-profit, government, and private housing. Adjusting for confounders, we discovered that tenants in not-for-profit housing reported the highest odds, over four and half times (odds ratio 4.63), of poor general health compared to tenants in privately owned housing in Canada. On the other hand, the odds were reversed for tenants in cooperative housing and government housing, with 24% and 33% lower odds of poor general health, respectively, compared to tenants in privately owned housing. Moreover, we found that tenants in not-for-profit (1.26) and government housing (1.43) reported higher odds of poor mental health. On the other hand, tenants in cooperative housing reported 42% lower odds of poor mental health than tenants in privately owned housing. Furthermore, we observed variations in the odds of poor general and poor mental health among tenants from different equity-seeking groups across different housing types. These findings highlight the importance of considering housing type and equity factors in understanding health outcomes among tenants.