Residential Evictions by Life Course, Type, and Timing, and Associations with Self-rated Health: Social Epidemiology to Combat Unjust Residential Evictions (SECURE) Study.

Abstract

Few existing data sources quantify the magnitude of court-ordered and illegal residential evictions, among historically marginalized groups. We describe the Social Epidemiology to Combat Unjust Residential Evictions (SECURE) Study (2021-2024; n = 1,428; 91.1% response rate) methodology and participant characteristics. Univariable and multivariable statistics including Spearman correlations were used to describe data. Unadjusted and adjusted modified Poisson regression with robust error variance estimated relative risk (RR) and associated 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for associations between five eviction measures and self-rated health (SRH), and self-rated health relative to most similarly aged peers (RSRH). A quarter of the participants reported experiencing an eviction as a child (n = 354). Over half of the study sample reported ever experiencing a court-ordered (n = 432) and/or an illegal eviction (n = 360). In the past 2 years, 15.2% of the sample reported experiencing a court-ordered (n = 122) and/or illegal eviction (n = 95). Eviction during childhood, and ever experiencing both court-ordered and/or illegal eviction was associated with between 12 and 17% higher risk of poor SRH, and childhood eviction and ever experiencing illegal eviction was associated with between 34 and 37% higher risk of worse RSRH among reproductive age Black women. More community-partnered research using participatory action research methods are needed to understand and intervene upon the health impacts of residential evictions among disproportionately impacted groups.