Rent as a toxic exposure: The Bronx and Manhattan

New York City, like many global cities, suffers from an ever-intensifying housing famine, especially of low-cost rental units, which has led to steeply rising rents and housing code violations. The purpose of this study is to explore whether rent affects public health patterns over the Bronx and Manhattan.

Median rent was regressed against public health indicators by borough 2005-2021.

Bronx and Manhattan annual birth rates, rates of low-weight births, obesity prevalence, and mortality rates from drug overdose, cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, and diabetes were acquired from the NYC Department of Health. Annual median rent for each borough was acquired from the American Community Survey. Bivariate and multivariate regressions revealed the associations.

Both boroughs' birth rates and obesity prevalence associated strongly with median rent, negatively for birth rate, positively for obesity prevalence. Rates of Bronx low-weight births, of Bronx and Manhattan drug deaths, and of Bronx cerebrovascular deaths declined in the early years but came to a threshold and rose. The threshold year-2021 rates associated strongly with annual median rents for those years. Rates of heart disease and diabetes mortalities showed a threshold effect, but plateaued, not rising.

Median rent behaved like a toxic chemical, eliciting defined patterns of public health degradation. The mix of responses to median rent mimic public health responses to the heavy metal lead: some without and some with a threshold. Toxic chemicals are regulated. Rent should be also.