Faculty affiliate Dr. Joel Segel, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Administration, published a study in Public Health assessing the relationship between emergency rental assistance and COVID-19 deaths during the pandemic. In addition to expanded unemployment insurance and stimulus funds, some counties offered emergency rental assistance during the pandemic to support renters experiencing income loss that impeded their ability to meet rent obligations.
In the paper, “Pandemic relief policies and public health: A study on emergency rental assistance and COVID-19 deaths in the USA,” Dr. Segel and his collaborators examined characteristics of counties that enacted emergency rental assistance programs, and whether they had lower COVID-19 mortality rates than their counterparts.
Their analysis of 2,993 US counties revealed that counties that enacted COVID-19 emergency rental assistance differed significantly from those that did not in race/ethnicity, education levels, income, poverty rates, healthcare resources, and health outcomes. Counties that had COVID-19 emergency rental assistance had an average of 636 fewer deaths per 100,000 residents than similar counties that did not.
These findings highlight the importance of financial support in early-stage pandemic responses before large-scale medical interventions can be administered, offering insights for future pandemic preparedness.
Li N, Segel JE, Shen C. Pandemic relief policies and public health: A study on emergency rental assistance and COVID-19 deaths in the USA. Public Health. 2025;247:105896. doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2025.105896
A link to the full text of the article is here.