Look Outside the Box with Health and Housing Partnerships
Though it seems the connection between health and community development is on everyone’s lips these days, the two sectors are really still at the beginning stages of learning how to work together.
When Supportive Housing Isn’t
The rationale behind supportive housing for people with mental disabilities is that pairing individualized services with permanent housing will help them live independently. But one San Francisco advocate sees more neglect than support.
A Marketplace for Health and Housing to Exchange Money—Has the Time Come?
Why would there be a need for a marketplace that values health? The answer is simple: our current “investments” in health are not working.
California’s New Environmental Movement
How communities of color, using health and jobs as rallying cries, took on Big Oil -- and won!
Why Food-Oriented Development Is Easier to Implement
You’ve heard of transit-oriented development. But food-oriented development might be easier to generate.
Fall 2018 — Health and Community Development Supplement
In our third supplement, we focus on a coalition's work to lower the number of asthma-related hospital visits from an apartment complex, and how sitting on a porch can be good for your health.
Why Do We Care About Health Equity?
The fight for health equity—for everyone to have a roughly equal shot at the potential and choice that good health offers—is of course, similar to the fight for economic justice and the work of community development.
The Tenacity of Dysfunction
The word resilience has different meanings in different fields. In the field of material science, it refers to the ability of a material to...
Rowhouse Repairs for Health in Philadelphia
In Philadelphia, health care professionals and housing advocates are working together to deliver home repairs to low-income homeowners.
A New Responsibility for Children’s Hospitals: The Health of Neighborhoods
Children’s hospitals in Ohio are making key investments to address a major cause of poor health — substandard housing.
Hey Housers, Health Folks Want to Talk to You Too!
People in the affordable housing field have grown increasingly interested in talking about healthcare. Concepts like “housing as a platform” for health outcomes have become part of our professional lexicon and panel topics at our conferences. We talk a lot about the barriers to progress in aligning health and housing policy in this country. […]
Webinar: Are Our Neighborhoods Making Us Sick?
Inadequate housing conditions—the presence of lead, radon, water leaks, poor ventilation, pollution or mold—are linked to poor health. But research also shows that even...
A Look at a Medical, Legal Aid Partnership in New Orleans
A health center has partnered with a legal services agency to better help patients by addressing the social determinants of health. This “medical-legal partnership” is part of a growing trend that’s taking place across the nation.
Breathing Easier
A Massachusetts-based program provides home environment assessments, education, and home remediation services—often resulting in the improved health and lives of families.
Smaller Cities Are Laboratories for Change
In smaller cities it is typically much easier to engage high levels of leadership, get traction for strategies that are more visible, engage the wider community, build trust, and scale solutions more quickly than in larger areas. Here are a few examples.
Which Agencies Should Pay to End Family Homelessness?
When families have stable housing, the benefits are widespread. And perhaps that has been the problem.
Not Just Partners, But Neighbors: Health Care in Affordable Housing Developments
Offering on-site health care in housing developments makes sense. But developing and managing housing and health care facilities can be very different. How do you make them work together?
Our Financial Reform, Our Health
The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future, by Joseph Stiglitz, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., June 2012. 448 pp. $27.95 (Hardcover). Available on Amazon.
Making the Connections Between Housing and Health
In December, President Barack Obama signed into law the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act that offers health, and dignity to millions of people through access to life-saving water and sanitation. The focus of this legislation will not cost taxpayers a penny more; it simply makes U.S. investment in existing programs smarter, more […]
What Happens When a CDC Pivots to a Health-First Focus?
Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation in Cleveland finds that being an early adopter of a community health focus has its advantages.
How the Community Reinvestment Act Can Help Flint
The audacious and callous decisions leading to the tragedy in Flint, Michigan are cruel and beyond comprehension. What is needed is an all-out effort...
To Save On Medi-Cal Costs, a Bid to Help Homeless Patients With Rent Money
California lawmakers consider devoting an additional $90 million to subsidize rent for homeless patients.
Where Were All the Sidewalks Built?
A health and community development partnership leads to a revelation for a city transportation department.
What Responsibilities Do Institutions Have In Their Communities?
Universities need to take an active interest in maintaining and enhancing community stability.
Loneliness Kills; Community Developers Can Help
Some social determinants of health are concrete and physical. A substandard house with mold and pests, for example, will lead to more asthma and...
Doctors Join the Fight Against Speculators
Housing crises are health crises. Toxic mold causes asthma. Lack of heat weakens immune systems. Unaffordability causes stress. Forced choices between paying the rent and paying for medical care or food lead to poor health. Around the country, health care institutions that recognize this have started to employ lawyers onsite to help patients fight landlords for better housing conditions or qualify for housing subsidies (plus a range of other legal supports that will generally have direct effect on their health).
Sitting on a Porch Can Be Good for Your Health
To help combat isolation and reweave the connecting fabric that had been lost, a neighborhood arts center launches an initiative that eventually became a movement.
Healthy Futures Fund to Connect Health and Housing Practitioners
Building affordable housing with integrated health services. Health centers in low-income neighborhoods.These are goals of a $100M investment fund.
Health Care Confronts Challenge to Shift from “Volume to Value”
Health care, as we all know, is a big business. U.S. hospitals alone have $782 billion in total annual expenditures, which is roughly five...
Seniors Cannot Age in Place Without Access to Oral Health Services
Maintaining good health—including good oral health—as long as possible is a critical component of aging in place.
Taking Health Into Account
By systematically assessing the health risks of development decisions upfront, health impact assessments can prevent
costly and harmful mistakes.
Foreclosures Are Making People Sick
[Editor's note: Shelterforce continues to discuss the connection between health and housing, and most recently devoted an entire issue to the topic. The op-ed below originally appeared in American Banker on November 3, 2014.] While foreclosure activity has declined since the peak of the mortgage crisis, millions of families are still at risk of losing […]
Filling Commercial Vacancies with Food Pantries
When I tell people that food pantries can be a new and innovative way to help lift up communities, they look at me as...
Developing Economic, Along with Physical, Health
Sue Joss and Jason Barbosa might seem to be unlikely economic development partners. She is the veteran CEO of a major nonprofit health care...
When Domestic Violence and Utility Bill Debt Intersect
In Pennsylvania, domestic violence survivors are often not afforded the protections they are entitled to because many people are often unaware of the Responsible Utility Customer Protection Act and its provisions. A three-year pilot program aimed to change that.
Urban Institute Report Highlights Health and Housing Links
There have been many studies, reports, and articles throughout the years that highlight the correlation between a person's housing...
Getting the Lead Out: Controlling Lead Paint Hazards in Housing
Lead poisoning remains the foremost environmental health risk to American children, with just under one million children with elevated lead levels. While the average...
In Schools, Eliminating Poverty Stigma Could End Child Hunger
More Americans live in high-poverty neighborhoods than ever before, according to a recent Century Foundation report, and many of...
Financial Metrics Won’t Tell the Full Picture
Cost savings alone do not measure the full value of the collaboration between the health care and housing sectors.
Renovating Senior Complexes to Be Green, Healthy, and Connected
Orness Plaza is one of the only public housing developments geared toward seniors and the disabled in Mankato, Minn., the state’s fourth largest city....
One Veteran’s Story
Michael Powell's journey from childhood poverty to military service and subsequent struggle with addiction is probably not unlike thousands of others who have served; but in listening to his story, you realize that somewhere along the way it may have become more complicated than it needed to be.
The Intersection of Health Philanthropy and Housing
Health philanthropy and community development have historically worked on separate tracks. That’s changing.
Common Sense Is Community Development’s Most Powerful Ally
The title of this post proved itself to be true for us in Duluth, when local organizations got together to address the growing need...
Flint: Tainted Choices, Tainted Water
Like the water itself, the situation in Flint, Mich., should be crystal clear: elected and appointed officials, at the state and federal levels, have done...
Keeping Seniors Healthy by Fostering Connections and Community
For high needs seniors with chronic illnesses, health is not merely—or even mostly—a matter for medical professionals.
Shelter Shorts—The Week in Community Development, April 20
NIMBYs, YIMBYs, PHIMBYs-Oh My! | Can Algorithms Make Equitable Cities? | Retail Segregation Takes a Toll | E.R. Visits and "Tough" Neighborhoods | Enough Innovation Already | More...
How a Risk-Averse Hospital and a Risk-Taking CDC Built a Functional Partnership
Shelterforce recently spoke with Angela Mingo of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Rev. John Edgar of Community Development for All People to learn more about their health/housing partnership and how it came to be.
Author Roundtable
Shelterforce authors discuss the roles of place, mobility, and displacement on health and neighborhoods.
Rx for Tenants
Doctors and lawyers team up to help tenants stuck in housing that's bad for their health
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Oct. 12
News from—and affecting—the community development world. This week: fast food swamps, Seattle has too many apartments, criminal justice, basic income pilot, more.
The Connection Between Water, Justice, and Health
Our talk with Radhika Fox, the CEO of the US Water Alliance, about water justice and ways to build stronger communities.
A Bad Mix: Utility Shut-Offs and Chronic Illnesses
In most states, a household can avoid or delay termination of its utility service due to overdue balances if the shut-off would significantly impact their health. But the process isn’t as simple as it may seem
Health and Housing: Where Should the Money Come From?
When we published our focus issue on health and housing and neighborhoods, one of the themes that came up in...
Putting Health Care Dollars to Work
Several key organizations are working to take health care institutions’ funding for social determinants of health to a new level.
Financial Incentives Encourage New Partnerships in Housing and Health
If you watch Downton Abbey, as I do, you know that Lord Grantham is becoming an affordable housing developer—much to his consternation. He’s been called on to help build a slate of new homes on a piece of his property in the wake of The Great War. But it was his answer to a question […]
Meeting Individual Social Needs Falls Short of Addressing Social Determinants of Health
While individual-level interventions are beneficial, characterizing them as efforts to address social determinants of health conveys a false sense of progress.
Medicaid Dollars for Housing?
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary says his department is exploring ideas to pay for non-health services like housing and nutrition with Medicaid, but it’s unclear whether that would, or could, actually happen.
Housing Is Health: Ballot Initiatives in California Approved
A conversation with three county supervisors who were instrumental in moving affordable housing ballot measures forward in the California Bay Area by bringing in the health factor.
Tools of the Trade: Measuring the Health-Related Returns of Community Development
Partnerships are becoming more the norm and less the exception, but how do we know that they are actually having a good effect on health, well-being, and economic opportunity?
A Farm-to-Fork Movement, Starting with the Corner Store
One of the more intriguing aspects of the local food movement in the United States is the effort to...
Green Is Affordable
The affordable housing movement has not only accepted green building, but is making it integral to its work.
Approaching Partnerships Between Health Care Institutions and Community Development Organizations
There isn’t an exact science to forming partnerships. The slow and sometimes messy process requires patience, allies, and trust.
The Next Step in Supportive Housing
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, individual-focused healthy lifestyles—regardless of socioeconomic status—became an increased topic of discussion. Along with clear correlations between...
Reshaping Housing Policy with a Health Lens
In Georgia, public health practitioners used a Health Impact Assessment to suggest changes to the allocation plan for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. This is how they made it happen.
From Food Pantries to Food Justice
Is it possible for a family to be truly self-sufficient and provide all of its own food?This is a...
Why We Must First Be Well Before We Can Do the Work of the...
An Alaskan collective's perspective on taking care of oneself can apply to organizations that work with communities that have experienced trauma. After all, organizations should make the mental and physical health of their staff a top priority, too.
How *Not* to Connect Health and Community Development
A few months ago as I walked to a board meeting of my local CDFI, I passed a memorial to a young man who...
Making Food Deserts Bloom
Finding fresh produce in low-income neighborhoods can be a struggle, but community efforts are striving to fill the void.
Interview with Mark D. Constantine, president and CEO of Richmond Memorial Health Foundation
Mark Constantine gives us a view of one foundation’s attempt to learn to walk the walk and how that commitment can influence the work one organization does to create a culture of health in its community.
Unsorting Our Cities
To improve the health of residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods, we have to address inequality, not medical care.
Housing Quality Is Key to Mental Health
Living in substandard housing affects your mental health as well, several studies have found.
Getting Ahead of Gentrification in the South Side of Columbus
More than a decade after several groups came together to improve substandard housing in the South Side of Columbus, signs of gentrification and forced displacement are beginning to emerge. Can something be done so current residents can afford to stay in their neighborhoods for years to come? The short answer is yes.
Prescription for a Legal Advocate
When we wrote in 2006 about Boston Medical Center's program to link patients to lawyers who could help improve their...
Why Health and Housing Partnerships Are Hard
Housing managers and health providers are natural partners for health care programming, but misunderstandings and institutional mismatches can get in the way.
Health and Community Development Resources
If you want to explore the intersection of health and
community development further, here are some places to start.
Q: Can Supporting Community Development Improve Outcomes for the Health Sector?
Yes! Over 50 percent of premature deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to preventable non-medical factors, specifically behavioral, environmental, and social conditions.
Condemning Asthma, Not Homes in North Carolina
An apartment complex in North Carolina generated 120 times as many hospital visits as would have been expected for its population, until a creative coalition forced its sale and worked with the new owner to change things.
Moving Hospital and Health System Investments Upstream
Across the country, nonprofit hospitals are under intense scrutiny due to the discrepancy between the substantial revenues they generate compared to the level of...
Aligning Health Systems With Community Development
Hospitals and health systems can’t solve societal challenges alone. But they can play a key role in mobilizing and aligning joint resources to bring positive changes to low-income communities.
The Specter of Asbestos in Low-Income Housing
The cost of lead and asbestos abatement totals in the thousands of dollars, and private homes aren’t usually included in asbestos regulation, so its removal becomes less of a priority for landlords, and is much less likely to happen at all.
Organizing for Hospital Community Benefits
Community development corporations need to become more educated about hospital community benefits. This is what can be done to get the process started.
Advocates for Healthy Housing
As public health and housing activists recognized a century ago when they fought for stronger sanitation and health codes, poorly maintained housing causes serious...
Getting Health on Board
It’s becoming increasingly common for community development corporations and grassroots housing organizations to have board members from the health care sector. Here's why.
How *to* Connect Health and Community Development
A recent Rooflines post explored how not to connect community development and health, urging practitioners to not fall into the trap of “moralizing public...
Are Planners Responsible for Public Health?
Could planners have an effect on waistlines around the Beltway? Maryland’s Prince George’s County and Virginia’s Fairfax County are examining how land use and...
Seven Tips to Help You Forge Health and Housing Partnerships
About 80 percent of a person’s health status can be attributed to non-medical factors such as housing and income.
Foreclosing on Our Health?
In a dangerous cycle, medical bills are a common cause of foreclosure—and the stress and financial crisis of foreclosure causes an increase in serious health problems.
Community Development and New Understandings of Health and Wellness
In June 2012, I attended the Institute for the Future’s Health Horizons conference Innovating Information Ecosystems: The Next Decade and Beyond as an expert...
Greening Vacant Lots: Low Cost, Big Effect in Philly
A Philadelphia program is cleaning up abandoned lots, helping formerly incarcerated residents get jobs, and improving the overall health and well-being of neighborhoods.
Can San Francisco Get Mixed-Income Public Housing Redevelopment Right?
The HOPE SF program is aiming to explicitly avoid many of the problems mixed-income public housing redevelopments have faced, to create a truly inclusive process.
Bridging Divides with Peer-to-Peer Strategies in Public Housing
Peer-to-peer strategies in public housing can keep residents engaged in programs offered within their respective communities by addressing cultural divides, trust issues, and employment barriers.
Prescription for a New Neighborhood
Housing mobility can complement community revitalization for children with serious health challenges.
Housing Advocates Track Indoor Environmental Hazards to Spur Improvements
When the community health promoters of San Diego’s Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) say they’re doing pollution testing, many people probably imagine samples from the...
Entrepreneurship as a Path to Health?
New partnerships between health funders and small-business lenders highlight another possible way to influence health.
Don’t Dump on Us
If it were not acceptable for anyone to suffer from substandard housing or the problems of disinvested neighborhoods, then many of the public health issues facing us would be automatically reduced.
Done Right, Eliminating Food Deserts Result in Community Oases
While eliminating food deserts often involves resources from outside of the community, a neighborhood must maintain control of its assets and identity.
How This Museum Supports Community Integration and Trauma Recovery
Using artistic expression to de-stigmatize and treat trauma.
Better Together
The community development and health sectors can and should work together to reduce health disparities and improve everyone’s health.
Health and the Spaces Inbetween
Last year, we published a focus issue on health and community development. We called the package “Are Our Neighborhoods...
How a Health Impact Assessment Helped House Irish Travellers
An HIA that focused on Irish Traveller housing programs proves successful because it empowered the population.