Housing Is Initiative


 

We Envision... Celebrating 10 Years of CLPHA's Housing Is Initiative

In 2024 the Housing Is Initiative is celebrating our tenth anniversary. To mark this milestone, we are releasing We Envision..., a comprehensive report reflecting on the Initiative's accomplishments and looking towards the future of cross-sector partnerships that improve life outcomes.

 

Read the Report

 
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
7.25.19
From the Toledo Blade: The dreaded summer vacation reading list has gained little popularity among schoolchildren over the years, and for some, just getting hands on a book can be a challenge. That’s where Books 4 Buddies comes in. The non-profit organization, started in 2012, focuses on providing books to disadvantaged youths, especially young men because they are considered...
7.25.19
From the Jamaica Plain Gazette: Mayor Martin J. Walsh this week announced the launch of the 2019 Boston Summer Eats Program, expanding access to healthy meals by providing free and nutritious meals to youth ages 18 and under at more than 100 locations throughout the city.
7.25.19
The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) marked its 75th anniversary during its annual meeting on July 17, 2019. The meeting’s 300 attendees celebrated HACM’s 75 years of working to provide safe, stable, affordable, and high-quality housing and supportive services to low-income Milwaukeeans.
7.25.19
The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) marked its 75th anniversary during its annual meeting on July 17, 2019. The meeting’s 300 attendees celebrated HACM’s 75 years of working to provide safe, stable, affordable, and high-quality housing and supportive services to low-income Milwaukeeans.
7.25.19
In an article for Next City produced by FUSE Corps, a national nonprofit that aims to help urban communities thrive through partnerships with local governments, author Erin O’Donnell spotlights two CLPHA member PHAs’ successful programs that enable residents to become more financially self-reliant and less dependent
7.25.19
In the latest issue of Bitterroot, an online weekly magazine covering the politics, culture, economy, and environment of the Western U.S., Editor-in-Chief Jake Bullinger highlights programs at CLPHA member PHAs Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) and Denver Housing Authority (DHA) that address housing instability and improve residents’ life outcomes through impactful
Partner with Us

If you and your organization would like to learn how to join us in 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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