How would mental health be affected by living with both food and housing insecurity? The results from our study suggest that, among subsidized housing applicants, those living with higher levels of food insecurity may have worse mental health.
Housing affordability and food insecurity are a primary concern for Canadians and both issues are closely related to mental health. Folks living in unaffordable housing tend to have poorer mental health, as do folks living with food insecurity. For instance, research shows that both housing insecurity and food insecurity puts individuals at risk for more mental health problems like anxiety and depression.
While food and housing insecurity both influence mental health, these problems are treated separately in policies and in research. Because of this, there is limited research that focuses on both problems. We were interested in looking at this gap in knowledge. Specifically, we were interested in researching food insecurity and mental health in applicants for subsidized housing in New Brunswick. The size of the waitlist for subsidized housing in New Brunswick has grown to over 11,000 households in the past couple of years, leaving many households in NB experiencing increasing housing insecurity. In our study, we looked at the food security, mental stress, depressive symptoms, and mental health diagnoses of these individuals on the subsidized housing waitlist.
We found that among households on the subsidized housing waitlist, those who lived with more food insecurity had more mental stress. They also had more symptoms of depression. However, we also found fewer diagnosed mental health disorders in these individuals. So, people who lived with more food insecurity had more symptoms but also had lower rates of formal diagnoses. At first, these findings did not make sense together, but diagnoses require having access to mental health care. Thus, this pattern may actually reflect a limited access to mental health care in this population.
Our study gives new insights into food insecurity, housing insecurity, and mental health. The findings tell us that individuals on the waitlist for subsidized housing in NB need more supports to address mental health challenges and access to quality housing. We hope these findings will be used by policymakers, community organizations, and other professionals. The academic paper for this study, titled Mental Health and Food Insecurity Among Adult Applicants for Subsidized Housing, can be found here.
By Allyson Lamont
Allyson (she/her) is a Clinical Psychology PhD student at UNB. She graduated from UNB Saint John with a Bachelor of Science in Biology-Psychology (Honours in Psychology) in 2021 and with a Master's in Psychology in 2022. Her research interests are in the social determinants of mental health and she is particularly interested in studying how experiencing food insecurity relates to mental health and the use of mental health services.
