At the second interview, her stove, which she relies on to prepare nutritious meals that keep her dia- betes under control, hadn’t been working for over 6 months, and she was taking her landlord to court over lack of repairs. Marlene relies on dual Medicaid-Medicare insurance coverage, but, because her primary provider’s office is in Westchester, not the Bronx, she finds it difficult to access care. She may end up leaving this doctor because it is hard to find reliable transportation to get to her appointments on time. At the first interview, Marlene expressed a need for mental health counselling. One and a half years later she had entered a depression following the death of her father, and still hadn’t found a therapist: “I still, as of today, haven’t had any help, and I’ve been tryin’ to get help almost—it’s been since the beginning of last year… What do I have to do? I think I tried lookin’ up a therapist on—I think it was like a insurance thing, whatever it is, but then they still have no one available at this time, so I did try to do somethin’ a little bit differ- ent, but at that point, I don’t know what else to do.” Marlene’s circumstances illustrate the protective nature of rent subsidy programs in allowing high- need, economically disadvantaged New Yorkers to avoid the housing hardship that pervades this de- mographic and disrupts healthcare access for those who need it most. But when this stable housing is in such a poor condition, its ability to support residents’ health is greatly undermined. In Marlene’s case, her poor housing conditions exacerbated preexisting physical and mental health issues, such as her asthma, diabetes, and depression, and made it difficult for her to seek needed care.
HOW HOUSING IS LINKED TO HEALTHCARE ACCESS AMONG NEW YORKERS SINCE THE PANDEMIC 18
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