Policy implications of neighbourhood effects on health research: Towards an alternative to poverty deconcentration

► We challenge research on the health effects of neighbourhoods based on housing mobility programs and poverty dispersal. ► Poverty dispersal as a health promoting policy may produce unintended negative consequences. ► Municipal fragmentation, exclusionary planning, and urban competition are upstream factors that can produce health inequalities. ► Annexation, municipal consolidation, increased federal support, and tax-based sharing are novel social policies to address these upstream factors.