Optimizing investment in housing as a social determinant of health

Housing is now widely recognized to be an important social determinant of health (SDOH), with governments and nonprofit organizations seeing health improvement as a key byproduct of housing initiatives, and housing viewed as a valuable hub for coordinating services. In recent years, some large health plans have been investing in housing as part of their strategies to improve community health and development.

That is the good news. The bad news is that there are significant impediments to the goal of achieving the optimal level of investment in affordable housing as an SDOH by both the public and private sectors. Until these barriers are addressed, there will always be underinvestment.