Relationships between Vacant Homes and Food Swamps: A Longitudinal Study of an Urban Food Environment

Yeeli Mui, Jessica C. Jones-Smith, Rachel L. J. Thornton, Keshia Pollack Porter and Joel Gittelsohn
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Yeeli Mui: Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Jessica C. Jones-Smith: Department of Health Services & Nutritional Sciences Program, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Rachel L. J. Thornton: Center for Child and Community Health Research, Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Keshia Pollack Porter: Department of Health Policy and Management, Institute for Health and Social Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Joel Gittelsohn: Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: Research indicates that living in neighborhoods with high concentrations of boarded-up vacant homes is associated with premature mortality due to cancer and diabetes, but the mechanism for this relationship is unclear. Boarded-up housing may indirectly impact residents’ health by affecting their food environment. We evaluated the association between changes in vacancy rates and changes in the density of unhealthy food outlets as a proportion of all food outlets, termed the food swamp index, in Baltimore, MD (USA) from 2001 to 2012, using neighborhood fixed-effects linear regression models. Over the study period, the average food swamp index increased from 93.5 to 95.3 percentage points across all neighborhoods. Among non-African American neighborhoods, increases in the vacancy rate were associated with statistically significant decreases in the food swamp index (b = ?0.38; 90% CI, ?0.64 to ?0.12; p -value: 0.015), after accounting for changes in neighborhood SES, racial diversity, and population size. A positive association was found among low-SES neighborhoods (b = 0.15; 90% CI, 0.037 to 0.27; p -value: 0.031). Vacant homes may influence the composition of food outlets in urban neighborhoods. Future research should further elucidate the mechanisms by which more distal, contextual factors, such as boarded-up vacant homes, may affect food choices and diet-related health outcomes.

Keywords: food swamp; food environment; neighborhood; food store; vacant home; African American; low-SES (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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