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Call for papers - Housing as a determinant of health and well-being

Guest Editors:
Lara Carson Weinstein: Thomas Jefferson University, USA
Roshanak Mehdipanah: University of Michigan, USA

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 1 June 2024


BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on housing as a determinant of health and well-being. The right to adequate housing has been recognized as a basic human right since 1948 when the United States signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Residential instability is a public health crisis that causes and exacerbates health problems, erodes communities and drives health inequities. BMC Public Health has launched this collection in support of this important social determinant of health.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Lara Carson Weinstein: Thomas Jefferson University, USA

Lara Carson Weinstein is a family doctor, addiction medicine specialist, and public health researcher in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. Grounded in the belief that healthcare and housing are human rights, her work focuses on driving fundamental change in how our health systems, health professionals, and learners support the health and wellness of people with substance use disorders and serious mental illness. She has collaborated with community-based agencies for over 20 years to implement and evaluate novel systems of integrated primary care, behavioral health, substance use treatment, and supportive housing in partnership with people and communities most affected by these issues.    

Roshanak Mehdipanah: University of Michigan, USA

Roshanak Mehdipanah is Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. Dr Mehdipanah is Director of the Housing Solutions for Health Equity initiative and co-leads the Public Health IDEAS: Creating Healthy and Equitable Cities. Her research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, and focuses on the impact of urban policies, particularly related to the built environment, on health and health inequities of residents.


About the collection

BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on housing as a determinant of health and well-being.

The right to adequate housing has been recognized as a basic human right since 1948 when the United States signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. With homeless populations and those in unsafe or unsuitable housing experiencing a wide range of health conditions, including chronic and infectious disease, increased violence, environmental exposures, injuries and poor mental health, improving housing conditions plays a significant role in saving lives, preventing disease, increasing quality of life and reducing poverty.

Residential instability is a public health crisis that causes and exacerbates health problems, erodes communities and drives health inequities. BMC Public Health has launched this collection in support of this important social determinant of health and welcomes research looking at:

  • Health effects of homelessness, residential instability and unsuitable housing
  • Promoting access to safe, affordable, good quality housing 
  • Health disparities in housing
  • Public and private housing policies
  • Housing affordability and health
  • Homelessness/unsuitable housing/residential instability and health behaviors 


Image credit: Belish / stock.adobe.com

  1. The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the U.S. is increasing. Municipalities have responded with punitive responses such as involuntary displacement (i.e., encampment sweeps, move along...

    Authors: Ashley A Meehan, Katherine E Milazzo, Michael Bien, Samantha K Nall, Katherine Diaz Vickery, Emily Mosites and Joshua A Barocas
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2024 24:1159
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Homeless shelters have emerged as components of the social services network, playing an important role in providing health care to the homeless population. The aim of this study was to evaluate an individualiz...

    Authors: Carolina Jiménez-Sánchez, Natalia Brandín-de la Cruz, Raquel Lafuente-Ureta, Marina Francín-Gallego, Sandra Calvo, Rocío Fortún-Rabadán and Sara Pérez-Palomares
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2024 24:993
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) exposes women and children to a wide range of challenges across housing, employment, social connections, and child well-being and is a public health issue. IPV survivors are at ...

    Authors: Ebony Rempel, Lorie Donelle, Jodi Hall and Nadine Wathen
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2024 24:397
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. House screening remains conspicuously absent in national malaria programs despite its recognition by the World Health Organization as a supplementary malaria vector-control intervention. This may be attributed...

    Authors: Kochelani Saili, Christiaan de Jager, Freddie Masaninga, Brian Chisanga, Andy Sinyolo, Japhet Chiwaula, Jacob Chirwa, Busiku Hamainza, Emmanuel Chanda, Nathan N. Bakyaita and Clifford Maina Mutero
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2024 24:285
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Tungiasis is a neglected tropical skin disease endemic in resource-poor communities. It is caused by the penetration of the female sand flea, Tunga penetrans, into the skin causing immense pain, itching, difficul...

    Authors: Lynne Elson, Shadrack Mwadai Nyawa, Abneel Matharu and Ulrike Fillinger
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:2483
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. Asthma is related to triggers within the home. Although it is recognised that triggers likely occur due to characteristics of housing, these characteristics have not been comprehensively reviewed, and there is...

    Authors: Amber Howard, Adelle Mansour, Georgia Warren-Myers, Christopher Jensen and Rebecca Bentley
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:1766
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Housing as a determinant of health and well-being" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.