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
6.26.19
Legislation to prevent carbon monoxide fatalities in public housing was approved by the House Committee on Financial Services today and now moves to the full House for consideration. The “Safe Housing for Families Act of 2019,” by Representative Jesus Garcia (D-IL) requires combination carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in public and assisted housing units and authorizes $300 million over a...
6.6.19
From the Daily Herald: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Cook County Health CEO Dr. Jay Shannon announced on May 22 that Cook County Health is committing $1 million towards the Chicago and Cook County Flexible Housing Pool.
6.6.19
From the Tacoma Ledger: Based in Tacoma’s rapidly gentrifying Hilltop neighborhood, Fab-5 remains an integral part of the community that remains resilient despite constant pressures of displacement. Beginning 19 years ago, Fab-5 was launched by a group of youth in Pierce County who sought more opportunities for young artists to mobilize their creativity and manifest their ideas into the...
6.6.19
From the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles ' website: The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) participated in the United Way’s annual HomeWalk on Saturday, May 18th in Grand  Park, Downtown Los Angeles. HACLA’s “All-Stars” team broke its own record again this year with over 70 participants and over $8,000.00 raised to support the efforts of ending homelessness in...
6.6.19
From Next City: Perkins + Will is an eighty-year-old architecture firm with noteworthy designs across the world, including the 850-foot Chase Tower in Chicago, where the firm is based. Its architects have designed university buildings in Vancouver, Beijing, and Saudi Arabia, and museums in São Paulo, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C. In 2017, it had the second-most revenue of any firm in the...
6.6.19
From the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee's website: The Daily Reporter recently awarded HACM a Top Project of 2018 award for its Veterans Manor development, a 60-unit veterans preference apartment building in the Westlawn Gardens Community. 
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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