Why foreclosure may literally make you sick

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A resident who is so anxious about his unstable housing situation develops digestion problems and has trouble eating.

A tenant who feels so ashamed that the bank has begun foreclosure proceedings on his house bottles up his depression and isolates himself from others.

A homeowner hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in years because she constantly worries about whether she’s done all she can to stop the foreclosure on her house.

These residents are among those who participated in a landmark report that found foreclosure not only has an economic impact, it can alter the health of an entire community.

The study, “Rebuilding Neighborhoods, Restoring Health,” released last month by the Alameda County Public Health Department and Cause Justa :: Just Cause, a Bay Area nonprofit, surveyed nearly 400 residents of East and West Oakland about their health while dealing with foreclosure, and could have implications nationally. Oakland is a city beset by the foreclosure crisis — where one in four mortgages were in some type of foreclosure proceeding between 2006 and 2009, according to the report.

“Residents experiencing foreclosure and related problems of housing instability are significantly more likely to report that their physical health has become worse over the past two years,” the report stated.

The survey found, among other things, that people experiencing some type of foreclosure were twice as likely to report mental health problems. It also found that the likelihood of experiencing stress, anxiety or depression over the past month was doubled in foreclosed residents.

“We’ve just seen, on a number of levels, that people are significantly thrown off by the threat of housing instability,” said Robbie Clark, Housing Rights Lead Organizer at Causa Justa :: Just Cause, and one of the authors of the report.

Clark said her organization was motivated to complete the report after noticing the negative impact foreclosures were having, in East and West Oakland – which are predominantly communities of color. And Clark said having hard data that analyses of the impact of foreclosure in the community helps Causa Justa :: Just Cause in advocating for better legislation to protect residents in foreclosure.

“Oftentimes, when we go to our city council to lobby them, or other legislators to lobby them, it’s really hard for us, beyond the individual stories, to provide them with the quantitative data that really captures the picture that we’re trying to paint,” Clark said. “The report is a good tool for us to be able to do that.”

But compounding the foreclosure threat for some can are already vulnerable and stressful living conditions due to unemployment, limited access to health care and high crime rates in neighborhoods already reeling from the national economic downturn, said Dr. Robert I. Field, professor of Health Management and Policy at the Drexel University School of Public Health.

“It’s not uncommon that the neighborhoods that were blighted an have high rates of foreclosure have these illnesses,” Field said, “but you have to tease out what’s causing what.”

Field said there is a growing body of evidence that links urban blight to stress- related diseases like depression and high blood pressure. He added that inner city neighborhoods could be more susceptible to foreclosure than affluent areas, and residents of inner cities face added pressures due to foreclosures, like worries that an abandoned, foreclosed house will become a magnet for drug addicts.

Clark agreed that foreclosure could be an added pressure to public health in already at-risk communities.

“We saw a number of people who are still dealing with the stress of daily life, but then, in addition, is this extra, added stress, that’s making them depressed, feel isolated and in general, leading to other illnesses that have hospitalized people,” Clark said.

The “Rebuilding Neighborhoods, Restoring Health” report lists solutions such as, establishing foreclosure prevention clinics where residents can go for support in negotiating with banks, engaging homeowners and tenants in foreclosure policy making and educating and training people about their rights in foreclosures.

Cause Justa :: Just Cause offers foreclosure support services in-house, and also refers residents to foreclosure prevention clinics. The group is also working with local utilities on laws to keep the water and electricity on in homes that have been foreclosed.

“That’s really what our work is about, taking people out of that position of powerlessness,” Clark said, “and connecting people to a larger community.”