Foreclosures Can Make You Sick, Report Says

San Francisco Chronicle
September 2, 2010
Colliver, Victoria

The Alameda County Public Health Department recently partnered with the Causa Justa/Just Cause housing rights group to poll nearly 400 residents in two Oakland, Calif., neighborhoods hit especially hard by the foreclosure crisis. Researchers examined how people undergoing the foreclosure process experience higher levels of stress and more medical problems, in addition to the financial fallout. Vacant homes attract crime, which increases stress -- which is further aggravated by severed social ties as neighbors are forced to move. "This kind of financial distress leads to intense levels of stress, which, in turn, makes it not at all surprising to find people who are suffering emotional and, in some cases, physical consequences," said Paul Leonard, director of the Center for Responsible Lending's California office. "This provides some really concrete evidence that foreclosures have many different kinds of negative impacts on borrowers and communities." The report builds on work previously done by county health officials showing that areas with the highest foreclosure rates, such as East and West Oakland, already have life expectancies about a decade less than other parts of the county.
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