Gabe Schwartz

Philly’s City Council turned down a new rental inspection program − studies show that might harm tenants’ health If housing violations arise, it’s on tenants to defend their rights. It’s a system that may not be effective at preventing poor health.

#Philly’s City Council rejected a plan to proactively inspect rentals for health hazards.

Even though research shows: relying on tenants to report unsafe housing doesn’t work, and leaves people at risk.

By Gabriel L. Schwartz, Drexel University:

Philly’s City Council turned down a new rental inspection program − studies show that might harm tenants’ health If housing violations arise, it’s on tenants to defend their rights. It’s a system that may not be effective at preventing poor health.

Earlier this month, #Philadelphia city council chose not to advance Nicolas O'Rourke's "Right to Repair" bill, which would have created a new rental inspection program. Research suggests that decision may harm tenants' health.

My op-ed in The Conversation‬: theconversation.com/phillys-city...

Los Angeles approves plan to spend nearly $425 million in 'mansion tax' money The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a spending plan for Measure ULA, the so-called mansion tax, directing nearly $425 million into housing and homelessness programs.

“More than $100 million is set to flow to homelessness prevention programs, including income support for at-risk tenants and eviction defense.”

By @latimes’ Andrew Khouri

latimes.com/california/s...
#housing+ #urbanism+ #urbanism

Read closely & you can see the sleight of hand: if unis claim the teaching & research you are *required to do* in order to *get paid* is “academic” and not “work,” the NLRB will let uni admin kick you out of your union & deny you labor protections 🫠

Appalling bs: www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Too many vaccines in the first year?Your child is 44% more likely to survive to one year if they are vaccinated than if they are unvaccinated.

Breaking: The Trevor Project received a stop-work order last night on its contract with the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trump administration is eliminating the option for LGBTQ callers to the hotline to press 3 and connect with someone who specializes in LGBTQ mental health.

Medicaid Cuts Are Undemocratic and Not What the American People Want | Milbank Memorial Fund Americans from across the political spectrum oppose cuts to Medicaid, believe that the program is effective, and are willing to take steps to defend Medicaid.

In a new Milbank Quarterly guest Opinion, @povertyscholar.bsky.social &
@sarahgollust.bsky.social share public attitudes toward Congress’s proposed Medicaid funding cuts reported in their April 2025 survey.

there's mean like "rude comments" mean and there's mean like "Palmer raids" mean

After over a decade we *finally* start seeing a drop in the overdose death rates & thanks to MAGA we’re going to go & undo that progress as fast as we can.

Do tenant protection laws improve renters’ health?

A new study by BHHI RAP Awardee Dr. Gabriel Schwartz and Lela Chu found little evidence that habitability laws reduce asthma, infections, or hospitalizations.
⬇️⬇️

Do laws protecting tenants’ health work?: Implied warranties of habitability and respiratory health Abstract. Housing quality is a powerful determinant of health. When US renters’ housing conditions deteriorate, state policies known as “implied warranties

For more details, you can read the paper here. And a big shoutout to my co-author Lela Chu, a brilliant programmer and scientist! 11/11 academic.oup.com/aje/advance-...

To be clear, implied warranties of habitability are crucial laws providing essential legal rights. They are a powerful lever for getting individual tenants out of hellish rental conditions. But our results suggest they just aren't doing enough to protect against disease. 10/

Philly lawmaker wants to add ‘muscles’ and ‘teeth’ to property maintenance code City Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke is set to introduce a legislative package designed to protect tenants and hold landlords accountable.

Our study suggests that major policy changes are needed to adequately protect tenants' well-being against unhealthy housing. Example: the Safe Healthy Homes platform, being advanced by tenant advocacy orgs in Philadelphia. 9/ whyy.org/articles/phi...

(C) Finally, warranties are reactive, adversarial policies, requiring tenants to complain & enforce their own rights at potentially high personal cost. Instead, cities could proactively inspect rental units & cite for violations, eg as they successfully do in Rochester, NY. 8/

(B) The US only guarantees a lawyer in criminal court. But disputes about rental contracts - either a tenant trying to enforce their warranty rights, or a landlord trying to evict - are civil cases. Without legal counsel, warranties may be rights only in theory. 7/

Examining the strength of state habitability laws across the United States of America Creation and maintenance of habitable housing conditions can be a challenge, particularly when occupants do not have ownership or control of the housing unit or sufficient resources to address defi...

Why might that be? (A) First, states' implied warranties of habitability policies might not be strong enough. Willis II, for example, graded states' policies on their comprehensiveness & relevance for health in practice. 22 states got a failing grade. 6/

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Sadly, we find that states' implied warranties of habitability have no detectable population health effects for a slew of housing-related outcomes: not general health; not asthma or respiratory allergies or bronchitis; not respiratory infections; not hospitalizations. Nada. 5/

So: do these policies work? We use a variety of staggered difference-in-differences models using data from 1993-2018 on 10 states from NHIS, 9 of which enacted policies some time between 1997 and 2008. (Here's a map showing when states enacted warranties, with wide variation.) 4/

Philadelphia renters forced to deal with major issues — or risk eviction Evictions are disproportionately leveled against black renters, particularly child-rearing women, even when controlling for factors like income, and have only recently received national attention.

Plus, making complaints to your landlord can be risky. In cities across the US, landlords frequently move to evict tenants soon after those tenants make a complaint about housing conditions... even though that kind of retaliation is illegal. 3/

whyy.org/articles/phi...

Specifically, states try to protect renters from poor housing conditions with "implied warranties of habitability," policies that require landlords to provide habitable housing. But enforcing warranty rights can be onerous, e.g., requiring city inspections & legal action. 2/

📣 Poor housing conditions like mold, cockroaches, peeling paint, & dilapidation harm health. States have policies to protect tenants from those exposures, but until now, no one ever tested whether they work. In a new paper, we find these policies are failing: 🧵 #episky 1/

New article based on data from my organization Mapping Police Violence shows police killings have surged in Red states. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/u...

Gabriel SCHWARTZ | Assistant Professor | Doctor of Philosophy | Drexel University, Philadelphia | DU | Health Management and Policy | Research profile Social epidemiologist and Assistant Professor at Drexel's Dornsife School of Public Health. My research examines how social policy, social stratification, and the places we live shape health inequitie...

Hi Erik! Do epidemiologists who focus on the social determinants of health go here? If so, here's my ResearchGate! www.researchgate.net/profile/Gabr...

Some Republicans Push to Put School Desegregation Officially in the Past

Breaking coverage @nytimes.com of push to end school desegregation. My team has NIH grant to examine health impacts of exactly this rollback of school desegregation, finding negative impacts on Black kids across their lifespan, & spillover impacts for other kids. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/u... 1/

Under ‘Crime-Free Housing’ Laws, Families May Be Evicted for Minor Offenses

You can be evicted for: calling 911 too many times; being wrongly accused of shoplifting; having a son with a disability who needs help; being a victim of domestic violence.

This is "crime-free housing" in America.

A searing, crucial investigation by Sidnee King Pineda:

Waivers of SNAP's work requirement are vital because many unemployed workers need more than the 3-month limit to find a new job, especially when the economy is weaker. But even when the unemployment rate is <5%, 1 in 3 unemployed workers need 15 weeks or longer to find work.

San Jose mayor wants new police unit to arrest homeless people - San José Spotlight More details are emerging about San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan's plan to arrest or hospitalize homeless people for refusing offers of shelter — and the city could create a police unit to do so.

Cities won't fund housing—but they *will* fund cops to arrest people for the crime of having nowhere to live.

Want to wipe an eviction off your record? Here's what to know about the new process in Massachusetts New rules took effect on May 5 allowing people in Massachusetts to ask a court to wipe past eviction cases off their record after a designated amount of time. State Sen. Lydia Edwards explains the rea...

Over the course of this week, individuals from across Massachusetts have begun using the new online system to seal past eviction records—and it’s working!

If you or someone you know may be eligible, here’s a step-by-step guide to get started:

Please join us tomorrow at the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative to hear from Dr. Diana Hernández about energy insecurity, housing, and health equity! #episky

You can RSVP for a Zoom link here: drexel.zoom.us/meeting/regi...