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
10.7.20
From the Housing Authority of the City of Goldsboro, NC's website: In Crystal Steadman's community of West Haven, you can already see several recently-installed, high speed wireless antennas. "This will be an amazing benefit! With having four children learning in the home,[...]this will make our school day flow better and will cut down on what has already been a difficult transition,"...
10.7.20
From The News Tribune: The facility is a significant upgrade. Tucked into a secluded wooded backdrop near Tacoma Housing Authority’s Salishan development, Arlington Drive Crisis Residential Center — which opened in June — represents a major improvement for Pierce County’s efforts to curb youth homelessness, and in particular for the kids who depend on it.
10.7.20
From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: A HomeTowne Studios extended-stay hotel off North Beach Street and Loop 820 is likely to be the future home for Fort Worth residents facing homelessness who are at particularly high risk of COVID-19.
10.7.20
From the Chicago Tribune: All families with school-age children in suburban Cook County public housing buildings will be eligible for free broadband internet under a program funded through federal coronavirus stimulus money, officials announced Wednesday.
10.7.20
From the Charlestown Patriot-Bridge: Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced that the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) is launching a $2.5 million partnership with local businesses and nonprofits to distribute hundreds of thousands of meals to its most vulnerable residents through the end of the year.
10.7.20
From the District of Columbia Housing Authority's press release: The District of Columbia Housing Authority entered into a partnership with Black Girl Health, a nationally known organization that works with companies, government entities and more to integrate strategic health programming in rural and urban communities, to offer physical and mental health wellness workshops on September 10....
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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