Housing Is Initiative


 
CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative helps build a future where systems work together to improve life outcomes for low-income people.

Housing Is helps broaden and deepen efforts to align housing, education, and health organizations to produce positive long-term outcomes for those experiencing poverty. Collaboration across systems and sectors—through shared goals, focused resources, and coordinated efforts—strengthens our collective ability to serve the needs of low-income individuals and families effectively and efficiently.

Public housing offers many low-income children, families, and seniors critical stability, but fragmented service delivery systems and siloed policymaking often fail to address social determinants of low-income individuals and families holistically. This often results in stagnant effectiveness and costly inefficiencies.

CLPHA leads the affordable housing industry as a convener of partners across sectors who are committed to aligning different systems and developing interdisciplinary programs to address a variety of essential needs in communities across the country. From promoting data sharing and shared accountability to encouraging cross-sector training and evidence-based interventions, our work fosters improved, sustained alignment and collaboration.

Our Work
Housing Is Education:

CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative recognizes the key role public housing authorities can play in a variety of educational efforts benefiting both low-income children and adults. Research has shown that housing stability has a significant impact on children’s school performance and long-term outcomes, such as graduation rates and post-secondary activities. Housing authorities are actively exploring how they can align with and add value to local approaches that aim to improve educational outcomes.

 

Learn more about our education initiatives. 

 

Housing Is Health:

Public housing residents are not only economically disenfranchised, but also experience higher rates of chronic conditions and diagnoses such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and anxiety/depression. PHAs and their health partners can improve low-income people’s health and wellbeing by enhancing built environments, providing preventative health resources, and increasing access to healthcare services.

 

Learn more about our health initiatives.

 

Housing Is Digital Equity:

As our world’s reliance on technology continues to grow, achieving digital equity and bridging the digital divide for disadvantaged populations becomes more and more critical. The digital divide disproportionately affects low-income households and contributes to racial inequities that have long plagued Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) communities. PHAs are uniquely well-positioned to help advance digital equity given that they house and provide services to some of our nation’s lowest-income and most disconnected families. 

 

Learn more about our digital equity initiatives.

Housing Is-Related News
6.28.19
From the Seattle Times: Some Seattleites who live in public housing will soon have access to free transit passes, a “life changer,” according to a representative for the city’s housing authority. Mayor Jenny Durkan announced in February that her administration would offer about 1,500 Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) residents free unlimited ORCA passes. “Transit must be reliable and...
6.28.19
From SDHC's website: The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) Achievement Academy is an example of an agency “performing in an outstanding manner or providing noteworthy community services,” according to a San Diego County Grand Jury report released today.
6.28.19
From the Victorville Daily Press: A facility to permanently house chronically homeless persons and provide a variety of services to help get them off the streets is set to be completed in late summer, county officials said. The Queens Motel on Stoddard Wells Road, more than 50 years old, dilapidated, unused and within sight of passing motorists on nearby Interstate 15, will be...
6.28.19
From the San Antonio Current: "Garcia Street Urban Farm, a 4.1-acre farm designed to bring fresh produce and food education to San Antonio's East Side, broke ground Wednesday morning.  The farm, which cost an estimated $500,000, will be managed via a partnership between San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA), San Antonio College’s Eco Centro and other community stakeholders. 
6.28.19
From ABC7 Los Angeles: Forty-six high school seniors and their families Thursday celebrated achievements many will never understand. All of the students live in Section 8 or public housing developments, and all of them are going to college. "At first, I wanted to go to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and then I discovered the Ivy Leagues. They became my dream, a dream I thought I couldn't...
6.28.19
From The Journal Gazette: The Fort Wayne Housing Authority will break ground Tuesday on a $13.9 million apartment complex on Spy Run Avenue Extended.  Dubbed River's Edge Apartments, the complex will be home to 56 one- and two-bedroom units of permanent supportive housing for homeless and at-risk individuals and families with disabilities.
Partner with Us

If you and your organization would like to learn how to join CLPHA in their cross-system efforts, please reach out to us at housingis@clpha.org, and join the Housing Is Clearinghouse at housingis.org.

Special Thanks

The Housing Is Initiative is thankful to our foundation partners who make this cross-system work possible. 

Click here to learn more about our funders.

Learn more about the Housing Is Initiative at housingis.org

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