The West Virginia Legislature is considering redefining the meaning of “public property.”
In essence, West Virginians will no longer be allowed to temporarily spend a night on public property in the case of an emergency or homelessness. An amendment to the bill even allows those on the public property to be rounded up and shipped to another state, since some counties do not even have a temporary shelter facility.
The issue sidesteps a major problem in West Virginia, namely the extreme shortage of affordable rental housing. The U.S. has a shortage of 7.1 million affordable rental homes available to renters with extremely low incomes, i.e. with incomes at or below either the federal poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income, which even is greater. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, West Virginia has only 58 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, a significant rate out of a total of 58,710 eligible households in the state that need housing.
The story is even worse if one considers whether existing available houses are habitable.
West Virginia’s housing footprint is dominated by dilapidated homes. Those built in coal camp communities at the turn of the 1900s, for example, were intended to serve as temporary living quarters for coal miners. The houses were structurally built for inadequate heating, insulation, plumbing, accessibility and electrical safety. Many were sold for a pittance to families when the mines closed. Others are vacant and prime targets for fires and drug use. A study decades ago revealed that out of 92,738 vacant housing units, 65% (61,205) were not habitable. The situation is even worse today.
In March, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a disturbing study that documented the connection between housing quality and population health. The study focused on three key consequences of inadequate housing:
Physical inadequacy. Structural deficiencies including plumbing issues, mold exposure and poor insulation.
Housing cost burden. The proportion of household income spent on housing, which can limit financial flexibility for essential needs like healthcare, transportation, and nutrition.
Poor neighborhood perception. Indicators such as abandoned buildings, high vacancy rates and crime reports that influence residents’ well-being.
Researchers demonstrated a pressing link between health and housing. Poor housing conditions exposed residents to environmental risks, including mold, vermin and inadequate heating, all of which are precursors for long-term conditions like asthma, cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease. Financial burdens because of high housing costs also triggered mental pressure, food insecurity and delays in seeking medical care. Neighborhood perceptions also played a role in health outcomes. The presence of abandoned buildings and signs of neglect contributed to anxiety, depression and an overall decline in mental well-being.
Key researcher professor Craig Pollock concluded that “housing is more than a place to live — it shapes people’s health in ways that go beyond the walls of their home.” In other words, the lack of habitable housing that is affordable to the large number of low-income West Virginians is likely a key factor in why state residents are now dying sooner, thereby affecting workforce availability and, in turn, reducing the likelihood of economic development that benefits them.
John David is a Gazette-Mail contributing columnist.
