On Friday, June 22nd, Shared Prosperity hosted a Roundtable on Healthy Homes. Speakers ranged from local weatherization providers, to health experts, to national model builders. The message throughout was clear — housing is health and investing in good quality, healthy homes are an investment in health.
The questions now are mostly about which interventions to pursue and how to pay for them. The speakers identified a number of strategies being used both in Philadelphia and elsewhere.
Brief summaries of several of the presentations are below, with links to the powerpoint files (from Shared Prosperity).
- Green & Healthy Homes Initiative: discusses a number of models being used across the US with integration between health, housing, and utilities. Funding sources include: a
ttorney general funds, settlement funds, utility funds, aging funds, and more. GHHI has also been active with Pay for Success efforts. - National Nurse-Led Care Consortium: reviews data connecting housing with health, work being done across the state, and the need for more sustained support in Philadelphia as well as more statewide support for Community Health Workers.
- Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program: discusses strong links between pests and asthma as well as the disparities in adverse asthma outcomes based on race; also urged more support for Community Health Workers.
As a part of our new strategic plan, RHLS is working to understand key issues at the intersection of housing & health and building new partnerships in this space. This Roundtable was part of that effort. Check back for updates as this exciting work begins to unfold.