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attention from the invisible features of housing, like toxins, stress, and barriers to healthy behaviors, which experts consider to be pressing issues. A. !e Open Children model. #e public has little difficulty appreciating that housing conditions affect children's health. #is understanding derives from a deep assumption that children are more "open" to be in$uenced by their surroundings than adults are. 6 Children are, therefore, assumed to be more likely to be in$uenced by the conditions in which they live. Participant: In older houses you have a possibility of lead still being in the paint…. It can cause developmental problems in children as far as having the capability of developing properly. — Participant: Lead paint is a bigger concern when you have young children. You're afraid they're going to ingest it. B. !e Contaminant model. #e American public does not have a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms by which unhealthy housing conditions lead to poor health outcomes. When thinking about how housing can affect health, they largely rely on a speci"c, relatively narrow Contaminant model. According to this model, homes are physical, bounded structures that may have contaminants inside them, which can enter people's bodies and make them sick. Participants focused on two main sources of contamination. First, people considered uncleanliness to be an important health risk. #ey assumed that lack of sanitation causes sickness of various types. Importantly, participants assumed that unsanitary conditions are always readily apparent and visible— an assumption that contrasts sharply with the expert understanding that unhealthy aspects of housing are, in many cases, unseen. Instead, members of the public pointed to things like hoarding and "having too many cats" as examples of unsanitary conditions that can affect health. Second, people recognized toxins like lead paint and asbestos as sources of contamination and risks to health. However, they viewed these toxins to be largely problems of the past, and assumed that industry regulation and government intervention have rendered these types of contaminants obsolete. Participant: I would say internally, it just has to be clean. Clean is the most important part. — Participant: To be clean and sanitary—it goes along with your health. . . . Infections, viruses, diseases, other medical issues. C. !e Stress Affects Health model. #e American public also assumes that stress itself can cause both physical and mental health problems. Drawing on this assumption, participants reasoned that the many worries associated with housing (costs, dangers, etc.) cause stress, which, in turn, causes physical and mental health problems. Participants were not able to explain exactly how stress causes health "A House, a Tent, a Box": Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understanding of Healthy Housing 23

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