Impact of residential environments on social capital and health outcomes among public rental housing residents in Seoul, South Korea

•Self-esteem and disabled member status were important for social capital and health.•Well-designed and equipped home environments were important for social trust and health.•Safe environments and external facilities for the disabled were important for health.•Perceived access to amenities for daily needs was significant for social capital and health.•Perceived access to amenities for recreational needs showed insignificant results. The increase in the supply of public rental housing since 1989 has mitigated the low-income housing shortage and contributed to stabilizing the housing market in South Korea. However, despite this policy-driven achievement, the living environment quality of public rental housing and its relationship to residents’ social capital and health have not been thoroughly examined. Using survey data from 3009 householders located across public rental housing complexes within administrative districts in Seoul, Korea, this study performed a multi-level analysis to examine the associations of multiple domains of perceived and objective residential environments with dependent variables of social capital (trust, interaction, and norm of reciprocity) and health (self-rated health, chronic health conditions, and stress level). While better-perceived residential environments for daily needs (e.g., home environments with better utilities/equipment and barrier-free space, safe environments and external facilities for the disabled, and accessible public transit stations and groceries) were significant for social capital or health, perceived access to amenities for recreational needs (e.g., green and recreational space, cultural facilities) were not significant. Some significance from the objective measures of such recreational needs was found, but most objective measures showed inconsistent, mixed results. Among individual characteristics, self-esteem and having a disabled member appeared important. Our findings suggest the need for inclusive policy strategies that make good use of existing resources and respond to the actual and accessible needs of residents, especially those of low socioeconomic status, from the psychological, physical, and environmental perspectives. More attention needs to be directed to improving the environmental quality of public rental housing.