Association of Long COVID with housing insecurity in the United States, 2022–2023

OBJECTIVES. To assess the association of Long COVID with housing insecurity in the United States. METHODS. To compare the prevalence of 3 binary indicators of housing insecurity between people with Long COVID (symptoms > 3 months) and COVID-19 survivors who don’t report long-term symptoms, we used survey-weighted regression models on 203,807 responses from the Household Pulse Survey, a representative cross-sectional survey of US households collected September 2022 – April 2023. Among people with Long COVID, we assessed whether functional impairment, current COVID-19 related symptoms, and symptom impact on day-today life were associated with a higher prevalence of housing insecurity. RESULTS. During the study period, 54,446 (27.2%) respondents with COVID-19 experienced symptoms lasting 3 months or longer, representing an estimated 27 million US adults. People with Long COVID were nearly twice as likely to experience significant difficulty with household expenses (Prevalence ratio [PR] 1.85, 95% CI 1.74−1.96), be behind on housing payments (PR 1.76, 95% CI 1.57−1.99), and face likely eviction or foreclosure (PR 2.12, 95% CI 1.58−2.86). Functional limitation and current symptoms which impact day-to-day life were associated with higher prevalence of housing insecurity. CONCLUSIONS. Compared with COVID-19 survivors who don’t experience long-term symptoms, people with Long COVID are more likely to report indicators housing insecurity, particularly those with functional limitations and long-term COVID-19 related symptoms impacting day-today life. Policies are needed to support people living with chronic illnesses following SARS-CoV-2 infection.