New Center Bridges Affordable Housing and Health Care

By Donna Kimura Affordable Housing Finance

A new initiative is focused on aligning the separate—yet deeply connected—worlds of affordable housing and health care.

“The National Center for Housing + Health reflects a growing recognition that housing is essential health infrastructure—particularly for people with complex health needs who are at greatest risk of chronic homelessness,” says Deborah De Santis, president and CEO of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). “Affordable housing providers are already on the front lines of this work, but systems and funding streams too often operate in silos. This center is designed to bridge those divides by connecting housing providers, health care partners, and policymakers around evidence‑based solutions that improve health outcomes, strengthen housing stability, and make more effective use of public resources.”

Powered by CSH, the new center’s work focuses on four core areas:

• Promoting innovative solutions by identifying, testing, and scaling proven and promising models that improve housing stability and health outcomes;
• Advancing public policy through nonpartisan, community‑driven recommendations at the federal, state, and local levels that better align housing with health care and supportive services;
• Producing and elevating research and analysis that helps systems leaders understand what works and how to allocate limited public resources more effectively; and
• Strengthening the field by providing hands‑on technical assistance, tools, and capacity‑building support to housing and health care partners.

The center’s website includes case studies of innovative developments that are connecting affordable housing and health care, information about Medicaid, research of supportive housing, and policy updates.