Unstable housing among undocumented Mexican immigrants in New York City

New York City's (NYC) Mexican immigrant population expanded 275% between 1990-2000. NYC's housing market is among the tightest in the country, yet little is known about the housing stability of NYC's Mexican population. The purpose of this study was to examine social/living context in relation to housing arrangements among Mexicans. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted among Mexican immigrants recruited through venue-based sampling. After restricting the sample to undocumented immigrants, logistic regression was used to model two separate housing outcomes: living in one's own home vs. 1) someone else's home and, vs. 2) rented room. Among 401 participants, 29% were female, median age was 30, median years in US was 5, 84% < high school, 46% lived in their own home, 29% reported someone else's home, and 26.0% reported a rented room. Those reporting someone else's home compared with one's own home were more likely to report recent homelessness (AOR=28.50;95%CI=3.39-239.78), more adults living in the home (AOR=1.25;95%CI=1.10-1.42), and less likely to be women (AOR=0.34;95%CI=0.19-0.62); those living in a rented room compared with one's own home were more likely to report low social support (AOR=1.84;95%CI=1.11-3.04), and less likely to report more children living in the home (AOR=0.62;95%CI=0.49-0.77). Compared to men, more women had children (83.7%vs.59.9%) and lived in their own/spouse's home (62.2%vs.38.7%). Low social support and recent homelessness may predispose undocumented immigrants to housing outside of family networks; however women may have more stable housing given their role as mother/spouse. Further investigation into gender differences, social support, and housing stability is needed.