Neighborhood and Built Environment
Neighborhoods and the built environments where people spend their time can have significant impacts on health and well-being. The built environment includes all the man-made, physical attributes of a surrounding area. This includes the ability for people to walk where they need to go, recreate, and access healthy foods and health services. Social and built environment conditions can affect health as much as one's health behaviors.
Historical Spotlight on Health
Safe and affordable housing is essential for promoting overall health, yet not always attainable. Many historical policies and practices promoted the separation of communities of color and White communities. Although the practices are not legal today, history continues to influence community design. One practice grouped people of color or with low incomes into certain areas. These areas were denied access to certain resources and were deemed risky places to invest. This practice is referred to as redlining, and it still impacts communities today. Residents of these communities continue to be largely inhabited by racial and ethnic minority groups, have fewer opportunities to build capital, and face poorer health outcomes.¹ Communities deemed to be “unfavorable” by this practice are consistently ranked lower across all factors that influence health and face higher eviction filings and judgements.²
In 2023, Rock County had higher rates of eviction filings that went to judgements (12%) than Wisconsin’s rates overall (7%).³ Filing for eviction is the first step for landlords to take in having a tenant removed from a rental property. When a filing is moved forward by the courts, this is called a judgement. Whether an eviction is filed or court ordered, this record can stay on a tenant’s record for either two years, or up to twenty years which can prevent renters from being accepted for new housing.⁴ This can show how many people may be facing unstable housing that can be harmful to physical and mental health. Communities of color, families with children, and low-income renters are more likely to face eviction.¹ While redlining is not practiced today, the impacts it continues to have on the neighborhoods and the people who live there still are impacted. Focusing on the reduction of poverty in unfavorable neighborhoods can reduce the impact of historical practices like redlining.²
Historic Residential Redlining and Present-Day Social Determinants of Health, Home Evictions, and Food Insecurity within US Neighborhoods: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10255945/
State of Wisconsin Department of Administration, Wisconsin Eviction Data Project. 2023 Wisconsin County Eviction Filings and Judgements per County, full-year: https://doa.wi.gov/Documents/2023-full-year-dec.pdf
Tenant Resource Center, CCAP: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. https://core.tenantresourcecenter.org/ccap#:~:text=If%20the%20eviction%20case%20was,Stat.