Tenants know: It’s not easy not owning a home.
A recent study examined the impact that housing conditions can have and found that renting private accommodation can have a significant impact on health.
The study, conducted by the University of Adelaide and the University of Essex and published October 10 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health, found that living in private rented accommodation accelerates the biological aging process by more than two weeks per year.
“Our results show that housing conditions have a significant impact on biological aging, even more so than other important social determinants such as unemployment, and that health impacts should therefore be an important consideration in housing policy,” explained the senior Researcher Dr Amy Clair from the Australian Housing Research Center at the University of Adelaide.
The study found that renting had a greater impact on accelerating biological age than unemployment (1.4 extra weeks per year), obesity (1 extra week per year), or being a former smoker (about 1 ,1 additional weeks).
Biological aging is the cumulative damage to the body’s tissues and cells. It is independent of chronological age.
Emma Baker, professor of housing research at the University of Adelaide, who was also involved in the study, said private rentals add “around two and a half weeks of aging” per year to a person’s body clock compared to those who own property your home.
“It’s actually private renting that’s really interesting here because social renters don’t seem to have that effect for one reason or another,” she told ABC News.
According to the study, the insecurity associated with renting private housing in particular contributes to the acceleration of individual aging.
The researchers also found that the epigenetic effects of tenancy can be avoided.
“Measures aimed at reducing the stress and uncertainty associated with private renting, such as: “Evictions such as ending no-cause evictions, limiting rent increases and improving living conditions can help reduce the negative impact of private renting,” said Emma Baker.