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Equity in Policy Data

Housing affordability affects health in many ways. High housing costs can force families to choose other basic needs, such as food and heat. It can also relegate lower-income families to substandard housing in unsafe neighborhoods with fewer resources for health. more

Purpose

To assess Rhode Island's progress towards advancing health equity, as part of the Rhode Island Health Equity Measures.

Key Information

Measure	Ratio: Number of low-moderate income housing units to number of low-moderate income households
Data Source	HousingWorks RI, Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (available annually)
Strata	City/Town
What this measure means	This measure combines data from two sources to estimate the ratio of low-moderate income housing units to the number of low-moderate income households in each city and town. The lower the value of the ratio, the fewer low to moderate-income housing units there are relative to the number of households that may be income-eligible for those units. The number of low-moderate income housing units is reported annually by HousingWorks RI for each municipality. Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data were used to estimate the number of low-moderate income households per city and town. The CHAS datas et is created by the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to demonstrate housing needs and problems, particularly for low-income families. This indicator was calculated as follows: # low-moderate income housing units/# low-moderate income households. This calculation creates a ratio that represents the availability of low- and moderate-income housing units relative to the estimated number of households that may be income-eligible for that housing. Ratios less than 1 indicate that there are more low-moderate income households than low-moderate income housing units in that city or town.

Key Findings

New Shoreham, Newport, and North Kingstown have the highest ratios of low- to moderate-income housing units to the number of low- to moderate-income households in that town.
West Greenwich, Scituate, and Little Compton have the lowest ratios of low- to moderate-income housing units to the number of low- to moderate-income households in that town.