Soaring housing costs are the topic of many recent discussions in the San Francisco Bay Area, but receiving less attention are the implications of high cost housing on the health and well-being of families who are expecting or who have young children. This research brief presents a snapshot of housing instability for families with children in the Bay Area. It synthesizes a growing body of literature to reveal how housing instability during pregnancy and early childhood has particularly negative long-term consequences, while also highlighting promising ways to support housing stability. Efforts to ensure safe, stable housing for Bay Area families can enable children to live longer, healthier lives.
This brief was co-authored with the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII). Bina Shrimali was the contributing author from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.