Housing and healthcare in the lived experience of high-need New Yorkers The data in this brief suggest that high-need New Yorkers with unstable housing face more health-related challenges than those with stable housing. However, the true picture for many New Yorkers is more compli- cated: housing stability does not guarantee quality housing and stable health. Marlene, 61, who we interviewed in September 2021 and again in March 2023, has multiple chronic physical and mental health conditions. After being hospitalized with severe COVID in the spring of 2020, she had a long road to recovery both physically and mentally: “I had to learn to walk again, learn how to use a bathroom again. I had to learn how to pick up stuff, just pick up stuff with my hands... I still got COVID brain.” She lives alone in the Bronx apartment she has held onto for 20 years. Unable to work due to her health, she survives on a small income of disability insurance and food stamps. A Section 8 voucher covers the majority of her rent, and Marlene prioritizes her contribution: “I always try to keep my rent paid. Because I know I have to pay it. I need a place to stay.” Still, during the height of the pandemic she fell behind on rent a couple of times and struggled to keep up with her expenses: “It gets crazy. Bills get paid. I just try to catch up on it when I can.” Unlike the high-need New Yorkers who struggle with persistent housing hardship that we investigate in this report, Marlene has maintained stable housing thanks to her Section 8 rent subsidy. This has been a lifeline that allowed her to recuperate from long Covid and to stay connected to care. However, the quality of Marlene’s building has deteriorated over time, exposing her to many of the housing issues common among high-need New Yorkers who do experience hardship. Marlene no longer feels safe in her apartment building: “The doors always being broken downstairs…I’ve never experienced so many people, strangers getting high in the hallways. People you don’t know is in the hallways, going in and out of the building. It’s dangerous... The whole block is full with just people selling drugs. When I get past this door, it’s you do what you gotta do, and hurry and get back in the house.” Safety concerns are not the only reason Marlene goes outside less frequently now. She uses a walker, and getting up and down from her apartment is challenging: “I don’t go out much because of the steps. I’m on the second floor. I don’t have an elevator in my building. I don’t go out much at all.”
There is also a pest problem in her apartment that affects her health:
“Well, I have plenty of rats. I have gotten a cat. I’m not supposed to have any cat because it’s bad for my health because of my asthma. It triggers it. It’s either the rats or the cat. I keep the cat.”
HOW HOUSING IS LINKED TO HEALTHCARE ACCESS AMONG NEW YORKERS SINCE THE PANDEMIC 17
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