Eviction and Pediatric Health Outcomes in Chicago

According to Eviction Lab there were 6877 evictions in Chicago in 2016. The rate was "1.1%" and came out to 18.79 evictions per day in Chicago in 2016. The presence of children in a household (HH) poses a greater risk for eviction than race or gender. Census tract-level data from the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Eviction Lab and American Community Survey was used to assess the relationship between eviction and pediatric health outcomes for 653 census tracts in Chicago. Correlation matrices and linear regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between eviction and health outcomes. Regression models were adjusted for the following: (1) female-led family HH with less than a high school degree and below poverty and (2) race/ethnicity. Compared to White Non-Hispanic HH, predominantly Black and Hispanic HH had higher rates of very low birth weight (VLBW), infant mortality (IM), eviction filings, and evictions. All covariates were found to be significantly correlated (p < 0.01). Eviction filing rates and eviction rates were significant predictors for both VLBW and IM in both unadjusted and adjusted models (p < 0.05). Though we cannot conclude causality, these results suggest that census tracts which experience high rates of eviction also experience high rates of VLBW and IM and this relationship should be further investigated.