How To Choose A Healthy Place To Live

My wife and I are looking for a new place to live these days. Our lease on our apt is about to expire at the end of June, which means we want to find a new place to move into by the end of May. I’ve been talking to a number of friends about their housing options and they all seem to have made their decisions based on the following aspects:

Schools for their kids
Price
Commute time

Price and schools seem to be the most important items for most people with commute time coming in a close third. However, I have to ask, where is health in all of this?

Healthy Living In The News

There have been a number of recent articles that have discussed the impact of home location on health. From Science Daily is an article about how tree lines streets can help childhood asthma. From the Dallas News come this article about the connection between obesity and easy access to fast food. Along the same topic is this article from the LA Times which discusses the link between poor health and poor eating options in a neighborhood. Finally, From Reuters, comes this article about how walkable towns reduce health problems and pollution.

With all of this evidence, plus numerous other articles that discuss the benefit of walkable streets, quality food sources and non car commutes, I find it difficult to believe that health should not be part of a housing decision.

Our Criteria

My wife and I are looking at housing with a number of different criteria.

Money - Yes, money is a factor in a housing decision, but money doesn’t just mean the rent. For example, our current housing complex has a nice gym which I use on occasion. Losing that would cost us an extra $50 a month in gym fees. So that factor goes into the cost of a new house. At the same time, we’re looking for a house with hardwood floors that would be easier on my wife’s allergies, so that’s another health factor that changes cost.

Commute - Commute is important. That’s why we’re looking for a home within biking range of the train station. That would allow me to continue my bike / train commute which is healthy, cheap and good for the environment.

Yard - We want to raise our own vegetables because it’s cheaper and healthier, so we’re looking for a place with a backyard as opposed to a small balcony.

Walkable - We want somewhere that is walkable so we don’t have to take the car everytime we want to go shopping for groceries or out to a restaurant. That lowers our fuel costs while also adding a healthy walk to our daily routines.

The Health Factors

Notice how health subtly changes each one of the criteria for housing. For example, health tends to go hand in hand with reducing cost. A healthy home ends up costing you less in terms of groceries (raise your own vegetables), fuel (walk to store, bike to work) and overall medical care (less allergy medication, lower weight). However, if you looked at rent or buying price alone, you might not notice this.

It’s also good for your kids. Numerous studies have shown a connection between health and school performance. So that park close by or the daily walk to school isn’t just about health, it’s also about their education and mental development.

Even the commute factor is changed by health. It’s no longer about how close you are to work but how close you are to public transportation, and that gives you a much larger range of housing areas to look at.

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When you look for a home you worry about your commute, your wallet and your kids education. Shouldn’t you also be worried about your and your kids’ health?

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