Housing Affordability and the Well-Being of Children: Towards a Longitudinal Research Strategy

The primary purpose of this study was to develop and pilot a longitudinal research strategy that could be used to explore how affordable housing impacts children’s development and well‐being. Additional objectives of this study were to explore if there are differences between private rental housing, social housing and the Affordable Housing Program on the well‐being of children and families. Our primary data collection strategy was a three‐wave longitudinal study conducted on the same group of participants over a period of eight months. A baseline survey was completed with 65 adults (including 22 parents of children aged 6‐15 years old) and 13 youth (16‐21 year olds) who were either on the social housing wait‐list and therefore in private rental housing; or those who had recently moved into either a social housing unit or an Affordable Housing Program subsidized unit (AHP). Qualitative in‐depth interviews were also conducted with a small cohort of parents and youth participants to explore how the receipt of affordable housing might mediate other outcomes such as employment, education and health. Participants who were on the waiting list for subsidized housing described their experiences waiting for affordable housing. Analyses of findings from the pilot data indicate that there are likely relationships between various indicators of children’s well‐being and parents’ receipt of subsidized housing that could be uncovered through a longitudinal research project over a sufficient period of time. Children and youth living in unaffordable homes that were not subsidized may experience more negative outcomes than those living in subsidized housing. One of the key methodological lessons from the pilot was that developing and conducting a longitudinal research study needs to allow for a longer time frame as many households remain on the wait‐list for a long time. Participants on the wait‐list were still there by the third wave interviews. Considering that the waiting lists are not very dynamic, recruitment and sampling will need at least one‐year.