Leveraging housing vouchers to address health disparities

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ recently announced Accountable Health Communities (AHC) model aims to better integrate social needs into the clinical realm. Housing quality and insecurity is a core area that providers should screen for and address by linking beneficiaries with community service agencies. However, the effectiveness of the AHC model may be limited if there is a paucity of services to meet the needs that health care providers identify and if these services are not optimized to improve health. Changes in housing policy that better enable low-income families to live in low-poverty neighborhoods that promote health are critical in advancing the goals of the AHC model.