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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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Video
Community:
May 20, 2019
On May 20, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and George Washington University’s Center for Washington Area Studies (CWAS) co-hosted an event to discuss housing growth and affordability in the Capital Region. The event started with the presentation of a new report by CWAS Director Leah Brooks. An expert panel discussed what local governments, developers, and affordable housing advocates can do to make sure the region meets the housing needs of all its residents.

Authored by: The Brookings Institution
Topics: East Coast, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research
Shared by Housing Is on May 28, 2019
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Report
Community:
Jan 1, 2019
This report focuses on the homelessness and health care use of older homeless adults in New York City, specifically those 55 years of age or older. Recent evidence suggests a unique cohort effect of postWorld War II “baby boomers” born between 1955 and 1965 who have shown a disproportionately high risk of homelessness over the last two decades.

Authored by: Dennis Culhane, Dan Treglia, Randall Kuhn, Kelly Doran, Eileen Johns, and Maryanne Schretzman for Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy
Topics: Cost effectiveness, East Coast, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Research, Seniors
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 11, 2019

A Data-Driven Re-Design of Housing Supports and Services for Aging Adults Who Experience Homelessness in New York City

Report
Jan 1, 2019
Dennis Culhane, Dan Treglia, Randall Kuhn, Kelly Doran, Eileen Johns, and Maryanne Schretzman for Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy
This report focuses on the homelessness and health care use of older homeless adults in New York City, specifically those 55 years of age or older.
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Report
Community:
Jan 1, 2019
This report is intended to accompany a report entitled The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness: Could Proposed Housing Solutions Be Funded from Avoidance of Excess Hospital and Nursing Home Costs?, which reports on findings from a multi-site study involving the analysis of data from Boston, Los Angeles and New York City. That report is motivated by recent evidence documenting a cohort effect in the single adult homeless population, wherein persons born between 1955 and 1964 have faced a disproportionate risk of homelessness over the past two decades.

Authored by: Thomas Byrne, Daniel Miller, and Jae Quinn for Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy
Topics: Cost effectiveness, East Coast, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Research, Seniors
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 11, 2019

The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness: Could Proposed Housing Solutions Be Funded from Avoidance of Excess Hospital and Nursing Home Costs? Boston Technical Report

Report
Jan 1, 2019
Thomas Byrne, Daniel Miller, and Jae Quinn for Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy
This report is intended to accompany a report entitled The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness: Could Proposed Housing Solutions Be Funded from Avoidance of Excess Hospital and Nursing Home Costs?, which reports on findings from a multi-site study involving the analysis of data from Boston, Los Ang
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Publication
Community:
The Home Preservation Initiative (HPI) for Healthy Living seeks to improve asthma outcomes related to unhealthy housing in five neighborhoods in West Philadelphia. By combining home repairs and community health worker home visits, HPI aims to significantly reduce emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to pediatric asthma. For these primarily African-American communities, substandard housing, unemployment, low wages and a lack of education are barriers to the overall health and well-being of residents. Using outcome data, the collaboration will show health care cost savings, aiming to make a strong case for Medicaid reimbursement for home repairs.

Authored by: The BUILD Health Challenge
Topics: Asthma, Cost effectiveness, Data sharing, East Coast, Health, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Partnerships, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 19, 2019
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Research
Community:
What is source of income discrimination, and who are the Rhode Islanders affected by it? The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, familial status, sex, and disability. Rhode Island state law goes further, granting residents additional rights. Yet both still allow landlords to reject a prospective tenant based solely on where his or her income comes from, even when the applicant can lawfully pay the requested rent.

Authored by: SouthCoast Fair Housing
Topics: East Coast, Housing, Low-income, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Feb 19, 2019
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Research
Community:
Feb 5, 2019
Baltimore is the 30th-largest US city by population and is a study in contrasts. It has a low average income compared with other wealthy Northeast cities, has nine colleges and universities, and is a magnet for people pursuing higher education but has undergone decades of population loss. A large social sector provides important services to residents and buoys the local economy: nearly every third job in the city is with a nonprofit employer. But this also illustrates the city’s limited economic vibrancy. This mix of market and nonmarket forces makes Baltimore an important place to examine the geography of opportunity in an American city.

Authored by: The Urban Institute
Topics: Community development, East Coast, Housing, Low-income, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 14, 2019

"The Black Butterfly:" Racial Segregation and Investment Patterns in Baltimore

Research
Feb 5, 2019
The Urban Institute
Baltimore is the 30th-largest US city by population and is a study in contrasts. It has a low average income compared with other wealthy Northeast cities, has nine colleges and universities, and is a magnet for people pursuing higher education but has undergone decades of population loss.
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Publication
Community:
Jan 30, 2019
To understand more about housing from an epidemiologist’s perspective, we spoke with Earle Chambers, an associate professor in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Chambers has documented the connections between housing and neighborhood conditions and health disparities among low-income Latinos in the Bronx.

Authored by: Lisette Vegas and Maya Brennan for How Housing Matters
Topics: Asthma, Community development, Depression, East Coast, Health, Obesity, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 31, 2019

Housing as a Social Determinant of Health: A Q&A with Epidemiologist Earl Chambers

Publication
Jan 30, 2019
Lisette Vegas and Maya Brennan for How Housing Matters
To understand more about housing from an epidemiologist’s perspective, we spoke with Earle Chambers, an associate professor in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
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Research
Community:
Jan 23, 2019
This research brief explores how access to rental assistance affects the self-management behaviors of people with type 2 diabetes. Through semi structured interviews with 40 low-income residents of New Haven, Connecticut, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, researchers analyzed the effects of housing stability and affordability on their self-care routines.

Authored by: Danya Keene, Mariana Henry, Carina Gormley, and Chima Ndumele for Cityscape
Topics: East Coast, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 24, 2019
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Research
Community:
Nov 19, 2018
Nearly 115,000 students in New York City schools experienced homelessness during the 2017–18 school year, according to new data released by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) last month. As reported by the New York Times, that figure represents 1 in 10 New York City public and charter school students. Our look at the data on noncharter public school students shows that even that alarming share hides the pervasiveness of student homelessness in some communities.

Authored by: Patrick Spauster for Urban Institute
Topics: Child welfare, East Coast, Education, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Racial inequalities, Research, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Dec 12, 2018
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Interactive
Community:
Nov 15, 2018
In an equitable DC, every resident would have the opportunity to prosper. But decades of discriminatory policies and practices have created inequities by ward, neighborhood, and race and ethnicity. Public, private, and nonprofit interventions have narrowed these gaps, but more needs to be done to level the playing field. This tool shows what it would take to improve equity across wards and neighborhoods on 16 key indicators. Select different areas of the District to compare or set your own goals for equity.

Authored by: The Urban Institute
Topics: Community development, East Coast, Education, Mobility, Place-based, Post-secondary, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Dec 6, 2018
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Research
Community:
Nov 7, 2018
Does a screening requirement for homeless families seeking shelter create unintended costs? In 2012, Massachusetts passed a law requiring homeless families seeking shelter to prove that they had recently stayed somewhere not meant for human habitation. Hospital emergency department discharge paperwork can provide such proof. This study explored the trends of emergency department use for shelter by homeless youth before and after the eligibility criteria was passed into law and to measure the financial impact it had on the health care system. Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of deidentified medical records of homeless children and young adults from birth to age 21 seeking shelter at a pediatric emergency department in Boston from 12 months before the eligibility rule to four years after the rule went into effect. They analyzed the number of visits, length of stay, insurance claims, and hospital charges before and after the policy change. Researchers found a significant increase in emergency department use for homelessness after the policy change. The results indicate that policymakers should consider the potential unintended health care costs of shelter eligibility policies and identify housing strategies that can prevent emergency department visits by families experiencing homelessness.

Authored by: American Journal of Public Health
Topics: Cost effectiveness, East Coast, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Nov 8, 2018
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Case study
Community:
Oct 31, 2018
To encourage architects and planners to design built environments that promote physical activity, New York City offers an “active design” building incentive within the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults ages 18 to 65 engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA) or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity (VPA) per week to reduce risk of disease and promote a healthy lifestyle, but in 2011, only 20 percent of Americans met these goals. Active design interventions provide an easy way for residents to increase their activity and meet these goals. This study analyzed the impact of the new design incentive on the activity levels of affordable housing residents at the Arbor House, a 124-unit development in the South Bronx that received the LEED credit.

Authored by: How Housing Matters, Preventative Medicine Reports
Topics: East Coast, Exercise, Health, Housing, Low-income, Place-based, Preventative care, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Nov 1, 2018
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Research
Community:
Oct 29, 2018
We examine the implementation of a community health worker (CHW) program in subsidized housing, describe needs identified and priorities set by residents, and summarize participant-reported outcomes.

Authored by: New York University School of Medicine, New York University, Henry Street Settlement, New York University School of Medicine
Topics: East Coast, Health, Housing, Low-income, Partnerships, Place-based, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 29, 2018

A Pilot Community Health Worker Program in Subsidized Housing: The Health + Housing Project

Research
Oct 29, 2018
New York University School of Medicine, New York University, Henry Street Settlement, New York University School of Medicine
We examine the implementation of a community health worker (CHW) program in subsidized housing, describe needs identified and priorities set by residents, and summarize participant-reported outcomes.
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Interactive
Community:
Oct 26, 2018
Percent of Families with Children Eligible for Shelter Due to Domestic Violence, by Community District (July 2014–December 2015)

Authored by: Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness
Topics: Child welfare, Domestic violence, East Coast, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Research, Safety
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 29, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Oct 15, 2018
Emergency room visits for homelessness surged at a large urban children’s hospital after Massachusetts made it harder for families to get into shelters, a new study suggests.

Authored by: Lisa Rapaport for Reuters
Topics: Child welfare, East Coast, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 22, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Sep 27, 2018
Nationally, resources for providing families with housing assistance are inadequate. DC is piloting a new approach, the DC Flexible Rent Subsidy Program (DC Flex), to test whether shallow (smaller than the average subsidy, over a defined period) and flexible subsidies can help more families maintain affordable, adequate housing.

Authored by: Mychal Cohen and Josh Leopold for Urban Institute
Topics: Cost effectiveness, East Coast, Housing, Low-income, Research, Stability
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 4, 2018
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Research
Community:
Aug 1, 2018
This study draws on qualitative interview data to examine transitions into rent-assisted housing as they relate to diabetes self-management behaviors.

Authored by:
Topics: East Coast, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Mental health, Metrics, Nutrition, Research, Stability
Shared by Housing Is on Aug 1, 2018
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Research
Community:
Aug 1, 2018
We examine the implementation of a community health worker (CHW) program in subsidized housing, describe needs identified and priorities set by residents, and summarize participant-reported outcomes.

Authored by:
Topics: East Coast, Health, Housing, Low-income, Mental health, Metrics, Partnerships, Place-based, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Aug 1, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Jul 27, 2018
Health promotion interventions in public housing communities have the potential to reduce obesity among residents, a new study shows. Changes in their environment, such as fresh food trucks, walking groups, screenings, and cooking demos, helped Boston residents eat better and get more exercise.

Authored by: University of Washington School of Medicine
Topics: East Coast, Exercise, Food insecurity, Health, Housing, Low-income, Nutrition, Obesity, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 27, 2018

Study Tests Healthy Living Strategies in Public Housing

News Article
Jul 27, 2018
University of Washington School of Medicine
Health promotion interventions in public housing communities have the potential to reduce obesity among residents, a new study shows. Changes in their environment, such as fresh food trucks, walking groups, screenings, and cooking demos, helped Boston residents eat better and get more exercise.
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Research
Community:
Jul 23, 2018
Supportive housing programs are proposed as a way of increasing housing access and stability for the chronically homeless, improving access to needed services, and decreasing vulnerability to HIV and other diseases. Little is known about residents’ understandings of and experiences with different models of supportive housing and how they fit within residents’ broader strategies to maintain housing. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 residents and 10 service providers from nine different supportive housing programs in Hartford, Connecticut. Data analysis explored residents’ perceptions of and experiences with supportive housing programs in the context of strategies to access resources and receive emotional, financial, and other forms of support.

Authored by:
Topics: East Coast, Homelessness, Housing, Mental health, Place-based, Research, Substance abuse, Supportive housing
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 23, 2018
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Report
Community:
Jul 18, 2018
This Issue Brief provides an update on the beneficiary experience in the first two demonstrations that were implemented as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Financial Alignment Initiative to test integrated care and financing models for Medicare-Medicaid enrollees. The Washington Health Homes MFFS demonstration, a managed fee-forservice model demonstration, and the Massachusetts One Care demonstration, a capitated model demonstration, began operations on July 1st and October 1st of 2013, respectively. For the purposes of this report, special populations encompass the following: (1) enrollees who use long-term services and supports (LTSS) which include nursing facilities, personal care services, residential care facilities, and adult day care; (2) enrollees with behavioral health needs, including those with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; and (3) linguistic, ethnic, and racial minorities enrolled in the demonstrations. The purpose of this brief is to report how enrollees who use these services are faring under the Washington and Massachusetts demonstrations and to understand if disparities in services and demonstration experiences exist for these groups.

Authored by:
Topics: East Coast, Health, Healthy homes, Immigrants, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Pacific Northwest, Partnerships, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 18, 2018

Issue Brief: Special Populations Enrolled in Demonstrations under the Financial Alignment Initiative

Report
Jul 18, 2018
This Issue Brief provides an update on the beneficiary experience in the first two demonstrations that were implemented as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Financial Alignment Initiative to test integrated care and financing models for Medicare-Medicaid enrollees.
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Case study
Community:
Jul 12, 2018
In Boston, Massachusetts, the Boston Housing Authority, Boston Public Health Commission, the city’s Inspectional Services Department, the Boston Foundation, and local universities and medical institutions have come together over the last decade-plus to address the intersection of health and housing. Motivated by a desire to improve the lives of Boston’s most vulnerable residents, these organizations began collaborating to address asthma and, more recently, to prioritize housing and health needs for pregnant women. By bridging anchor institutions, foundations, and city agencies around health and housing initiatives citywide, Boston has made strides toward providing healthier housing options and integrated health management and referral systems. This case study highlights how a variety of key stakeholders within one city can collaborate to address the health and housing needs of its vulnerable residents.

Authored by:
Topics: Asthma, Child welfare, Dual-generation, Early childhood, East Coast, Exercise, Family engagement, Funding, Health, Home visiting, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Nutrition, Obesity, Partnerships, Pre-natal, Preventative care, Research, Smoke-free
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 12, 2018

A City Takes Action: Emerging Strategies for Integrating Health and Housing

Case study
Jul 12, 2018
In Boston, Massachusetts, the Boston Housing Authority, Boston Public Health Commission, the city’s Inspectional Services Department, the Boston Foundation, and local universities and medical institutions have come together over the last decade-plus to address the intersection of health and housing.
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Research
Community:
Jul 11, 2018
Studies show that those residing in households subsidized with federal housing vouchers exhibit fewer mental health problems than residents of public housing. The role of housing conditions and neighborhood quality in this relationship is unclear. This study investigated the relationship between rental assistance, housing and neighborhood conditions, and the risk of depressive symptomology and hostile affect among low-income Latino adults living in the Bronx, NY

Authored by:
Topics: Depression, East Coast, Health, Housing, Low-income, Mental health, Obesity, Racial inequalities, Research, Stability
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 11, 2018

Depressive Symptomology and Hostile Affect among Latinos Using Housing Rental Assistance: the AHOME Study

Research
Jul 11, 2018
Studies show that those residing in households subsidized with federal housing vouchers exhibit fewer mental health problems than residents of public housing. The role of housing conditions and neighborhood quality in this relationship is unclear.
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News Article
Community:
Jul 10, 2018

Authored by: Tina Rosenberg for The New York Times
Topics: Child welfare, Criminal justice, Domestic violence, East Coast, Family engagement, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research, Safety, Supportive housing, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 10, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Jul 5, 2018
"There's no silver bullet" to end chronic absenteeism, but a simple "nudge" letter has shown real success in reducing truancy. It's working in Tacoma, and it's caught the interest of the Seattle Housing Authority, which houses 10 percent of Seattle's public-school students.

Authored by: Neal Morton for The Seattle Times
Topics: Attendance, Dual-generation, East Coast, Education, Family engagement, Low-income, Research, West Coast, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 9, 2018