Housing disrepair goes far beyond inconvenience or mess. Disrepair can harm health.

As a result of the segregation and disinvestment caused by redlining, Black and Latino people have less access to healthy housing. They are more likely to live in buildings that have health-threatening maintenance issues.

These disparities persist across income levels.

Black and Latino people have less access to healthy housing, but this isn’t due to higher poverty rates in these populations. Black and Latino people with higher incomes are also more likely to live in buildings with serious maintenance issues – further suggesting that racism is behind these disparities.

These healthy housing problems can’t be fixed by a little bit of tidying up – they stem from chronic neglect of maintenance by building management and landlords, and old housing stock in disrepair after decades of disinvestment.

And the disparities in access to healthy housing are related to real estate practices that maintain segregation.

To see disrepair by income:

http://a816-dohbesp.nyc.gov/IndicatorPublic/Closerlook/housing/index.html

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