Social Determinants of Health
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Q: What Does ‘Community Benefit’ Mean?
A: This term means different things to people in the health sector and the community development or organizing sectors, which can get confusing.
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Living in a Bubble: Development When Community Doesn’t Matter
How suburban luxury high-rises are lowering everyone’s quality of life.
‘We-Making’: How Arts and Culture Build Social Cohesion
In Oakland, the Black Cultural Zone ties together art and community ownership to prevent gentrification and heal trauma.
What’s the Best Way to Judge How Well a City’s Housing Policies Improve Health?
CityHealth revamps its housing medal criteria, shifts away from inclusionary zoning to flexible funding and tenant protections. “We realized there is no singular policy intervention that can address the whole of affordable housing.”
How Affordable Housers Perpetuate Past Harms, and How They Can Do Better
Some elements of affordable housing—from the development process to the way buildings are managed—are rooted in racist assumptions that dehumanize residents. Here are some simple ways you can be a better housing provider.
Blame Policies, Not Places, for Poor Health
Shifting blame from people to ZIP codes is not enough to create healthy communities. Here’s how to do better.
Trauma-Informed Practices Help Deliver Better Care to Clients and Staff
Poverty, violence, and racism can fuel toxic stress. It’s critical that organizations respond with trauma-informed care. Here’s how.
Rural Health Professionals Think Outside the Hospital
Could rural hospitals build on existing social services work by investing their assets to advance their communities’ health? Examples from Kansas, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Virginia show some possibilities.
Housing Design That Advances Health
Applying trauma-informed principles, reducing social isolation, and encouraging active living—how housing can be designed to promote good health.
The Work Continues: Property Maintenance Lawsuits Move Forward, Foster Care Vouchers Pass, and More
In the third installment of Shelterforce articles of old, we look back at what’s been happening with lawsuits against banks that allegedly failed to maintain properties they own in predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods, Medicaid money for housing, community developers elected to office, and vouchers for foster care youth.
Fixing the Harms of Our Eviction System: An Interview with Emily Benfer
Emily Benfer talks about what needs to change in our housing and eviction systems—not just now, but once the pandemic is past, the connections between health and housing, and how she came to be a go-to voice on the eviction crisis.
Health Care Institutions Invest in Tenant Protections for Community Health
Health care institutions are expanding from funding development to supporting housing justice and tenant rights policy.
Health Care Institutions Must Acknowledge Their Role in Neighborhood Change
If those in health care seek to develop new ways to help patients stay in their homes, they must also find ways to temper how they affect communities in which they reside.