Insecure renting ages you faster than owning a home, unemployment or obesity. Better housing policy can change this

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 03:30:18 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/insecure-renting-ages-you-faster-than-owning-a-home-unemployment-or-obesity-better-housing-policy-can-change-this-216364>

"People’s experiences of private rental housing are linked to faster biological
ageing, our recent research finds.

While chronological ageing happens at the same speed for everyone, biological
ageing varies greatly. It depends on the lives we lead and the risks we’re
exposed to. Biological age reflects the gradually accumulating damage to cells
and tissues in the body.

Our research explored associations between pace of ageing and many aspects of
housing and other social determinants of health. Our strongest finding about
housing was that people living in a privately rented home tended to age faster
than those who owned their home outright. Every year of private renting was
associated with an extra 2.4 weeks of ageing on average.

Our findings also suggest being a private renter has a greater effect on
biological age than being unemployed (adding about 1.4 weeks of ageing per
year), obesity (about 1 week), or being a former smoker (about 1.1 weeks).

The insecurity of private renting appears to be the key factor in its
biological ageing effect. The good news is that policies that improve housing
security can redress this."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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