The Impact of U.S. Housing Type and Residential Living Situations on Mental Health during COVID-19

Ghimire, Jyotsna; Carswell, Andrew T.; Ghimire, Ramesh; Turner, Pamela R.

Residential environments could be associated with the mental health of residents, in general, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, limited studies have investigated the relationship between these two. This study used data from the Household Pulse Survey, collected between 23 April 2020 and 23 November 2020 to explore the relationship between mental health status as perceived by the residents and housing tenure (own or rent), building type, and the number of household members, while accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, general health-related variables, and week-specific unobserved heterogeneities. The findings suggest that renters had higher odds of experiencing mental health issues than homeowners. Residents in multifamily housing units had higher odds of experiencing mental health problems than single-family units. Further, more people in the household were associated with lower odds of experiencing mental health episodes during the COVID-19 pandemic.