Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director, through the Trans-NIH Research Support program (CFDA 93.310), awarded $679,589 to the Regents of the University of Minnesota on June 15, 2026, to investigate the long-term health and aging outcomes associated with early-life exposure to the U.S. public housing program. The research focuses on the well-maintained, high-quality housing programs of the 1940s and 1950s as a natural policy experiment to understand how stable, affordable housing in childhood influences health trajectories and mortality in later life. The project addresses a significant gap in life-course health research by leveraging historical census data and individual-level linkages to economic, housing, health, and mortality records to document the enduring effects of housing quality on population health outcomes.

The research team will expand an existing dataset of public housing residents identified in the 1940 Census to include the full count of the 1950 Census, then link these historical housing records to subsequent economic, health, and mortality data to examine long-term health implications. This project is scheduled for completion by February 28, 2031, and contributes to the NIH's research priorities by providing empirical evidence on housing as a social determinant of health—evidence that has direct policy implications for current housing affordability crises and their potential impacts on public health.