Home Is Where the Health Is: Addressing Housing Challenges for Immigrants in London

Social determinants of health, as defined by the World Health Organization are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They include the conditions related to where an individual is born, grows up, lives and works – as well as the wider circumstances that shape the conditions of an individual’s daily life.

Social determinants of health are important because they play an important role in determining inequalities in health. Lower levels of health quality coincide with lack of access to social determinants of health such as housing, food security, safe working conditions, social inclusion and education.

Housing is one of these key social determinants. Stability, affordability, quality and safety are some of the ways in which housing has an impact on health. Without access to housing, individuals are likely to face increased physical and mental health challenges. Additionally, having access to housing that is unsafe or has poor living conditions can also negatively impact health outcomes.

One of the prominent priorities, and sometimes challenges, for immigrants when they arrive in a new community is finding access to quality housing. This means that examining housing as a social determinant of health is of significance when helping newcomers settle and to monitor their success in integrating into their new community.

A recent study found that ethno-racial minorities in Canada have less access to affordable housing than white people. Additionally, previous studies had demonstrated that recent immigrants are less likely to live in affordable housing in Canada. These studies indicated that immigrants were generally more likely than Canadian-born members of their own ethno-racial group to live in unaffordable housing – often causing the issue to become intergenerational. Discrimination in the housing sector, as well as the employment sector allow these trends to persist.

These findings indicate that it is not only important for service providers and policy makers to accept and understand the importance of housing as a social determinant of health, but it is furthermore critical to understand which groups are facing the most barriers accessing affordable and safe housing, and arguably more importantly…why?

More than 20% of our local population is made up of immigrants, a high percentage of which are visible minorities. This therefore is not an issue that affects a small handful of people and therefore deserves serious consideration over the systemic issues and barriers that allow this dynamic to persist.