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Housing Is Working Group 2023-2024 Calendar

Join the Housing Is Working Group to discuss special topics related to cross-sector initiatives and programmatic considerations particularly focused on the intersections of housing, health, and education.

This year’s public webinars cover topics such as the mobility asthma project, trauma-informed approaches to housing, resident-focused racial equity work, out-of-school time, and how FCC grantees are supprting voucher holders.

View Calendar
 

Elements of a Successful Partnership

With generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, CLPHA developed an in-depth report on regional housing-education collaborations taking place at housing authorities across the Pacific-Northwest.

Read the Multimedia Report
 
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Report
Community: Postsecondary
May 2, 2019
Innovative public housing authorities (PHAs) are collaborating with college access partners and community colleges to increase postsecondary educational achievement for low-income residents and college students experiencing homelessness. This report elevates 11 shared learnings from a recent convening of these five pioneering PHAs and their postsecondary collaborators, and offers a series of recommendations to policy makers, PHAs, and philanthropic organizations seeking to develop emerging cross-sector collaborations between housing and education organizations. The report also includes an overview of the federal policies that support and limit postsecondary achievement for students served by PHAs, and profiles of the five partnerships: CHA and partners City Colleges of Chicago and One Million Degrees; CMHA and partner Columbus State Community College; HACLA and partner Southern California College Access Network (SoCal CAN); LMHA and partner Family Scholar House; and THA and partner Tacoma Community College.

Authored by: Abra Lyons-Warren for CLPHA
Topics: CLPHA, Education, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Partnerships, Post-secondary, Stability
Shared by Abra Lyons-Warren on Oct 6, 2020

Eliminating Barriers to Postsecondary Success: Cross-Sector Collaborations to Improve Postsecondary Achievement for Students Served by Public Housing Authorities

Report
May 2, 2019
Abra Lyons-Warren for CLPHA
Innovative public housing authorities (PHAs) are collaborating with college access partners and community colleges to increase postsecondary educational achievement for low-income residents and college students experiencing homelessness.
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Report
Community:
Nov 7, 2019
How Housing Programs Can Support the Educational Needs of Children Living in Publicly Supported Homes

Authored by: Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation
Topics: Attendance, Broadband, Child welfare, Early childhood, Health, Housing, Literacy, Low-income, Out-of-school time, Partnerships, Place-based, Research, School-readiness
Shared by Kelly McElwain on Nov 7, 2019
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Report
Community:
Jun 6, 2019
Trends in Housing Assistance and Who it Serves

Authored by: PAHRC
Topics: Community development, Disabilities, Education, Funding, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Partnerships, Research, Seniors, Workforce development, Youth
Shared by Keely Stater on Sep 10, 2019
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Report
Community:
In 2017, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) spoke with over 90 national thought leaders and stakeholders about the current state of rural health care in the Upper Midwest region, including Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. BPC and CORE used these discussions to determine the real-world implications of existing federal policies, to understand ongoing care challenges, and to identify opportunities for improvement in rural health care access and delivery.

Authored by: Bipartisan Policy Center
Topics: Health, Low-income, Midwest, Research, Seniors
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 12, 2019

Reinventing Rural Health Care: A Case Study of Seven Upper Midwest States

Report
Bipartisan Policy Center
In 2017, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) spoke with over 90 national thought leaders and stakeholders about the current state of rural health care in the Upper Midwest region, including Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dak
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Publication
Community:
Opened in summer 2018 on the north side of Columbus, Ohio, Laurel Green Apartments is an affordable permanent supportive housing development for residents with mental health conditions.

Authored by: PD&R Edge Online Magazine
Topics: Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Mental health, Supportive housing
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 11, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Jun 11, 2019
The Trump Administration is publicly weighing plans to gradually lower the official poverty line by applying a smaller cost-of-living adjustment each year. Doing so would be unjustified for several reasons.

Authored by: Arloc Sherman and Paul Van de Water for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Topics: Child welfare, Food insecurity, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Nutrition, Stability
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 11, 2019

Reducing Cost-of-Living Adjustment Would Make Poverty Line a Less Accurate Measure of Basic Needs

Publication
Jun 11, 2019
Arloc Sherman and Paul Van de Water for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The Trump Administration is publicly weighing plans to gradually lower the official poverty line by applying a smaller cost-of-living adjustment each year. Doing so would be unjustified for several reasons.
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Publication
Community:
Jun 11, 2019
Authored by Civic and the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, and released annually in partnership with the Alliance for Excellent Education and America’s Promise Alliance, the Building a Grad Nation report examines both progress and challenges toward reaching the GradNation campaign goal of a national on-time graduation rate of 90 percent.

Authored by: Civic and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Education
Topics: Education, Low-income, Research, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 11, 2019

2019 Building A Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Raising High School Graduation Rates

Publication
Jun 11, 2019
Civic and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Education
Authored by Civic and the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, and released annually in partnership with the Alliance for Excellent Education and America’s Promise Alliance, the Building a Grad Nation report examines both progress and challenges toward reach
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Publication
Community:
This paper analyzes why SNAP benefits are inadequate, reviews the body of research showing positive effects from more adequate SNAP benefits, and offers key policy solutions to improve benefit adequacy.

Authored by: Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Nutrition, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 11, 2019

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Initiatives to Make SNAP Benefits More Adequate Significantly Improve Food Security, Nutrition, and Health

Publication
Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
This paper analyzes why SNAP benefits are inadequate, reviews the body of research showing positive effects from more adequate SNAP benefits, and offers key policy solutions to improve benefit adequacy.
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Report
Community:
May 1, 2019
Protecting and improving the health of pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children is critically important. Those eligible for WIC — and frequently their communities and the nation — are facing levels of poverty, food insecurity, inadequate dietary intake, obesity, and ill health that are far too high. Research shows that WIC can help to alleviate these problems for children, mothers, and their families, and improve overall health and well-being. Yet the program is reaching far too few eligible people: only 3 out of 5. Increasing access to and strengthening WIC is essential to improving nutrition and reducing health disparities in this nation.

Authored by: Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
Topics: Early childhood, Family engagement, Food insecurity, Funding, Health, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 3, 2019
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Community:
May 1, 2019
Community eligibility allows high-poverty schools and school districts to offer free meals to all students, and it eliminates the need for household school meal applications. A key piece of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, community eligibility was phased in a few states at a time before it was made available to schools nationwide in the 2014–2015 school year.

Authored by: Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Food insecurity, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Nutrition, Out-of-school time, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 3, 2019
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Report
Community:
Oct 17, 2018
The primary objectives of this study are (1) to provide insights into the factors associated with landlord decisions about whether to participate in the HCV program and (2) to identify a collection of promising and innovative practices that Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) have used to increase landlord participation in the HCV program, especially in these low-poverty neighborhoods. This study employs a mixed-method research design composed of quantitative and qualitative components.

Authored by: Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Policy Development and Research
Topics: Housing, Low-income, Research
Shared by Housing Is on May 29, 2019

Landlord Participation Study: Multidisciplinary Research Team

Report
Oct 17, 2018
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Policy Development and Research
The primary objectives of this study are (1) to provide insights into the factors associated with landlord decisions about whether to participate in the HCV program and (2) to identify a collection of promising and innovative practices that Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) have used to increase lan
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Publication
Community:
May 1, 2019
Navigating college as a first-generation college student can feel like making your way through a maze with no map, filled with “learn as you go” lessons, and “wow, I wish I knew this then.” When you combine it with being low-income, homeless, and/or food insecure, it can feel like you’re navigating the same maze blindfolded, on a tightrope, balancing multiple responsibilities. It should not be like this.

Authored by: Miguel Arellano Sanchez for SchoolHouse Connection
Topics: Low-income, Post-secondary, Stability, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on May 29, 2019

Tricks of the Trade: Advice from a Higher Education Basic Needs Navigator

Publication
May 1, 2019
Miguel Arellano Sanchez for SchoolHouse Connection
Navigating college as a first-generation college student can feel like making your way through a maze with no map, filled with “learn as you go” lessons, and “wow, I wish I knew this then.” When you combine it with being low-income, homeless, and/or food insecure, it can feel like you’re navigating
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Community:
May 1, 2019
Child poverty is an urgent and preventable crisis. Solutions to child poverty already exist if we just expand and invest in them. Benefits like nutrition assistance, housing vouchers and tax credits helped lift nearly 7 million children out of poverty in 2017, but millions of children were left behind due to inadequate funding, eligibility restrictions and low wages. We can and must fix these problems to help more children escape poverty now.

Authored by: Children's Defense Fund
Topics: Child welfare, Dual-generation, Early childhood, Food insecurity, Funding, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on May 28, 2019
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Publication
Community:
May 20, 2019
African-Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma as whites. In Philadelphia and elsewhere, how can outcomes improve with changes to housing quality and pollution control?

Authored by: Sophia Newman for Next City
Topics: Asthma, Health, Housing, Low-income, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on May 23, 2019
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Publication
Community:
May 22, 2019
In May 2018, Kaiser Permanente, the largest private integrated care system in the US, announced that it would invest $200 million through its Thriving Communities Fund to address the affordable housing crisis in California’s Bay Area. Then in 2019, Kaiser announced that it used the fund to purchase an apartment building in a diverse but quickly gentrifying neighborhood in Oakland with the express purpose of making repairs and upgrades to improve health in the building and to ensure affordability to current residents. If Kaiser wanted to improve health, why wouldn’t it focus solely on housing upgrades, which research shows can produce positive health outcomes (PDF)? Why would it include maintaining affordability in its mandate?

Authored by: Martha Fedorowicz for How Housing Matters, The Urban Institute
Topics: Health, Housing, Low-income
Shared by Housing Is on May 23, 2019

What's Bad for your Wallet Might Be Bad for your Health: The Negative Health Consequences of Spending Too Much on Housing

Publication
May 22, 2019
Martha Fedorowicz for How Housing Matters, The Urban Institute
In May 2018, Kaiser Permanente, the largest private integrated care system in the US, announced that it would invest $200 million through its Thriving Communities Fund to address the affordable housing crisis in California’s Bay Area.
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Publication
Community:
May 14, 2019
Low- and moderate-income families in Puerto Rico would get a significant income boost from the Working Families Tax Relief Act, which would substantially expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in Puerto Rico as well as nationally and also help the Commonwealth expand its own, recently implemented Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The bill, which Senators Sherrod Brown, Michael Bennet, Richard Durbin, and Ron Wyden introduced recently, would reduce poverty and increase economic security for millions of working families in the United States, including Puerto Rico.

Authored by: Javier Balmaceda for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Topics: Child welfare, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, U.S. Territories
Shared by Housing Is on May 15, 2019

Working Families Tax Relief Act Would Help Puerto Rico Families

Publication
May 14, 2019
Javier Balmaceda for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Low- and moderate-income families in Puerto Rico would get a significant income boost from the Working Families Tax Relief Act, which would substantially expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in Puerto Rico as well as nationally and also help the Commonwealth expand its own, recently implemented Earned
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Community:
In fact, Syracuse’s experience feels both unique and all too common for U.S. cities, particularly Great Lakes cities: federally sanctioned housing disinvestment; sprawling outward development; stagnating or declining and segregated population; fractured local government and school systems; and outdated infrastructure.

Authored by: Anthony Armstrong & Make Communities for The Poverty and Race Research Action Council (PRRAC)
Topics: Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Housing Is on May 10, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Apr 4, 2019
Decades of policy choices and insufficient public and private investment have made the infrastructure needs of these communities acute, especially in many communities of color where past policy choices affected by racism, combined with continuing racial bias and discrimination, have resulted in a lack of needed economic resources.

Authored by: Chye-Ching Huang for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Topics: Community development, Education, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Housing Is on May 2, 2019

Infrastructure Investments Should Focus on Low-Income Communities

Publication
Apr 4, 2019
Chye-Ching Huang for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Decades of policy choices and insufficient public and private investment have made the infrastructure needs of these communities acute, especially in many communities of color where past policy choices affected by racism, combined with continuing racial bias and discrimination, have resulted in a la
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Publication
Community:
Apr 25, 2019
Research shows that clinical care is only one factor that impacts population health and that a collection of other factors – including the natural and built environment where people live, education economic stability, food, and community and social context – grouped under the term social determinants of health (SDOH), have significantly more influence on care utilization, outcomes, and population health. Together, these factors account for 60% of preventable mortality.

Authored by: Daniel Young for The Network for Public Health Law
Topics: Child welfare, Early childhood, Health, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare
Shared by Housing Is on May 2, 2019

Addressing Social Determinants of Maternal and Child health through Medicaid Managed Care

Publication
Apr 25, 2019
Daniel Young for The Network for Public Health Law
Research shows that clinical care is only one factor that impacts population health and that a collection of other factors – including the natural and built environment where people live, education economic stability, food, and community and social context – grouped under the term social determinant
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Publication
Community:
Apr 24, 2019
Are you a Pennsylvanian without a high school diploma? Then sign up with AmeriHealth Caritas for Medicaid and the plan will help you get your GED. Having trouble getting a job in Ohio? If you are enrolled in CareSource, the Life Services JobConnect in CareSource’s managed care organization (MCO) will arrange job coaching and other employment services at no cost. These are not examples of corporate philanthropy. Rather, they reflect a growing recognition in the health care sector, especially among managed care organizations, that good health—and achieving lower medical costs—requires a focus on the nonmedical factors known as social determinants that affect health and well-being.

Authored by: Stuart Butler for news@Jama
Topics: Education, Food insecurity, Health, Housing, Low-income, Nutrition, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 25, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Apr 25, 2019
Adequate, safe, and affordable housing is one of our most basic needs. But in the US, access to housing is not guaranteed. Demand for affordable housing is growing, especially as housing costs increase beyond wage growth in many communities. Hospitals and health systems are stepping in to help fill this gap. Because of their mission orientation, the importance of stable housing on health outcomes, and policy changes initiated by the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and health systems are increasingly investing in and supporting the creation of affordable housing in their communities.

Authored by: Martha Fedorowicz and Kathryn Reynolds for How Housing Matters, The Urban Institute
Topics: Affordable Care Act, Community development, Health, Housing, Low-income
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 25, 2019

Three Ways Hospitals and Health Systems Can Improve How They Invest in Affordable Housing

Publication
Apr 25, 2019
Martha Fedorowicz and Kathryn Reynolds for How Housing Matters, The Urban Institute
Adequate, safe, and affordable housing is one of our most basic needs. But in the US, access to housing is not guaranteed. Demand for affordable housing is growing, especially as housing costs increase beyond wage growth in many communities.
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Publication
Community:
Apr 24, 2019
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and states spend over $300 billion per year on the care of dually eligible individuals, yet still do not achieve acceptable health outcomes. In a 2016 study of social risk factors in the Medicare value-based purchasing programs, dual enrollment status was the most powerful predictor of poor outcomes. For example, relative to Medicare-only beneficiaries, dually eligible individuals had 10-31 percent higher risk-adjusted odds of hospital readmission across conditions measured in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, and scores were lower for dually eligible individuals on nearly all (17 of 19) beneficiary-level quality measures in Medicare Advantage.

Authored by: Seema Verma for Health Affairs
Topics: Dual-eligibles, Funding, Health, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Research, Seniors
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 24, 2019
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Community:
Apr 1, 2019
College Promise programs aim to make students believe they can afford college, and to give them the opportunity to go to college and earn degrees without taking on significant debt. At the core of all College Promise programs is a scholarship: All eligible College Promise students receive scholarships that may cover up to 100 percent of tuition and fees at postsecondary institutions. Additionally, many Promise programs are designing, implementing, and refining additions to their models by providing students with support services once they enroll in college. MDRC’s College Promise Success Initiative (CPSI) provides important lessons for Promise programs interested in including such services.This brief shares early lessons from CPSI about how different Promise programs are designing, implementing, and refining their models with embedded student services in mind.

Authored by: Jacklyn Willard, Andrea Vasquez, and Marco Lepe for MDRC
Topics: Education, Low-income, Post-secondary, Research, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 24, 2019
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Community:
Apr 20, 2019
Detroit’s Promise program was designed to encourage college attendance among some of the nation’s most underserved students, those in Detroit, Michigan. The next step was to help students succeed once they enrolled in college. To do so, MDRC and the Detroit Promise partnered to create the Detroit Promise Path, an evidence-based student services program. Detroit Promise Path students begin meeting with college coaches in the late summer before their first semester of college. They are given an incentive to attend coaching meetings in the form of a monthly gift card refilled with $50 each month that they meet with coaches as directed. The program lasts all year, including summer semesters, when students are encouraged to enroll in summer classes or engage in a local summer jobs program. The entire operation is supported by a management information system.

Authored by: MDRC
Topics: Education, Low-income, Midwest, Post-secondary, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 24, 2019
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Community:
Apr 8, 2019
In 2015, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) prevented 8.4 million people from living in poverty. This essential and effective safety net program helps people with low incomes purchase food for themselves and their families—an estimated 40.8 million Americans were living in poverty in 2015; absent SNAP benefits, that number would have been 49.1 million. Despite its success, SNAP is facing rule changes that would cause people to lose benefits—harming those who need it most and weakening the poverty-fighting power of the program.

Authored by: Anthony Barrows for Ideas 42
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Nutrition
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Apr 18, 2019