Promoting caregiver and child health through housing and stability screening in clinical settings

Within the health care sector, researchers, clinicians, and payers increasingly recognize the importance of the social determinants of health for improving maternal and child health. This article focuses on existing and emerging approaches to screening families for unstable housing circumstances. The authors describe how housing stability screening helps health care providers to better understand risks for caregiver and child health and wellness. They urge clinicians to screen more actively for housing stability, not just homelessness, hospitals to pursue incentive payments and alternative financial models to address housing instability, and policymakers to expand investments in housing as a health-promoting policy opportunity.