Pro-neighbouring possibilities in community housing for urban health

Source abstract

Within housing and public health policy, questions remain about strategies to promote social connections between neighbours in living situations that are high density, high social mix, and undergoing high rates of neighbourhood change. This paper explores factors that relate to the quantity and quality of neighbouring among community housing residents, a population of lower–income residents in high density neighbourhoods. In 2023 we surveyed a sample of such residents in Metro Vancouver, Canada. We constructed a pro–neighbouring index (three components: number of close friends, frequency of conversations with neighbours, and attendance at community meetings) and used ordinal logistic regression to identify factors associated with each. The sample (n = 460) was majority women (58.9%), older (55.4% ≥65 years), and immigrants (50.2%). Most (70%) scored moderately (5–7; scale 3–9) on pro–neighbouring. Being lonely and not using the internet were negatively associated with pro–neighbouring. In component models, being an immigrant was positively associated with conversations with neighbours; and poor physical health associated with not attending meetings. There were not associations for other factors, suggesting few systemic barriers to neighbouring for this population. This adds evidence to our understanding of neighbouring amongst lower–income urban dwellers, a population underrepresented in research on urban housing and health.