Effect of Subsidized Housing on Child Food Security

A new report from Children's HealthWatch and the Medical Legal Partnership | Boston, examines the crucial role of subsidized housing in protecting young children from food insecurity and other health risks. Children living in subsidized housing were more likely to be food secure and less likely to be seriously underweight than children whose families were on the waiting list for subsidized housing. Subsidized housing frees up resources that families can use to meet basic needs. The research indicates that households use some of these additional resources to provide better nutrition for their children.

To meet President Obama's goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015, the report, Rx for Hunger: Affordable Housing, calls for increased support of subsidized housing and a greater effort to meet the nutritional needs of families on wait lists for subsidized housing.