Housing & Public Health

Partners in Des Moines Iowa came together to improve the lives and health of children living in the East Bank region of Des Moines under the name Healthy Homes East Bank (HHEB). HHEB looks specifically to identify children experiencing chronic pediatric asthma symptoms, remediate the situtation with supportive services and improvement of household conditions, and follow up with the household to determine the impact of the intervention on the child’s conditions. This MOU is used to signify the commitment of partners to HHEB and discuss the expectations of the partners.

The Boston Public Health Commission, the Boston Housing Authority, and Boston Medical Center are working together to identify and address some of the health challenges faced by residents of Boston’s public housing.

The Alameda County Public Health Department in California recognizes the links between health and safe and affordable housing, and offers data and policy expertise to inform community advocates and public officials.

“Working across sectors begins with speaking the same language. If you’re lost in a sea of acronyms, this tool can help.” The Build Healthy Places Network built this tool to help explain jargon typical of both the housing and public health sectors.

“This playbook guides community developers toward partnerships with hospitals and healthcare systems. Although the community development sector is the primary audience for this playbook, it also has utility for public health departments, hospitals, and healthcare systems that are interested in learning more about the assets community development organizations bring to partnerships and how they can be leveraged for sustained impacts on population health.”

“[LIIF] developed the Social Impact Calculator, a new tool that allows you to put a dollar value on the benefits of things like an affordable home, a great school or access to transit—as well as calculate a rate of social return.”

“Housing code enforcement—the local government process of administering and enforcing housing codes designed to ensure safe and habitable housing conditions—is one of the primary strategies for connecting and improving our housing and our health. In this report, we examine how housing code enforcement in Memphis, Tennessee, could prioritize public health as a key outcome and better coordinate with public health agencies, community health nonprofits, and other health care institutions. We explore these potential health impacts in Memphis as a model that other communities can apply and adapt.”

“The Health & Housing Starter Kit is designed to help local institutions take their first steps toward creating bold and innovative health and housing initiatives. The Building Blocks cover a range of issues that local institutions will likely wade through as they start their efforts, and are drawn from themes we pulled from nearly 2 years of field research and interviews with staff at each of our case study sites. These include leadership, financing, how to develop an orientation toward health equity, forming partnerships with communities and other institutions, scaling your work to address population outcomes, developing indicators to understand and evaluate your efforts, and crafting messages to build support.”

“Research documenting the harmful effects on children when families must keep moving to find a safe, affordable home.”

“A safe, secure home is where health begins. To build more equitable, healthier communities, we need to boost people’s ability to afford a good place to live. This year’s County Health Rankings show us we still have work to do to reach that goal.”