Homelessness And Health Care: What Is Being Funded?

In June 2018 Health Affairs published a Culture of Health policy brief titled “Housing and Health: An Overview of the Literature.” Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the brief notes that “selected housing interventions for low-income people have been found to improve health outcomes and decrease health care costs.” The brief notes that “observational studies have shown that being without a stable home is detrimental to one’s health.” According to theDepartment ofHousing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, released in December 2018, roughly 553,000 people were homeless in the US on a single night in 2018—a 0.3 percent increase since 2017. Since 2017 the number of homeless veterans fell 5.4 percent, and the number of homeless people in families with children declined 2.2 percent. However, the number of chronically homeless people grew 2.2 percent. According to a December 2018 press release, HUD announced $4,645,284 in additional funding (after awarding $35 million in October 2018) for homeless veterans and their families through the HUD-Veterans Affairs (VA) SupportiveHousingProgram. It combines rental assistance vouchers fromHUDwith case management and clinical services provided by VA medical centers. In San Francisco, California, voters supported Proposition C in the November 2018 election. The proposition, described by CNBC as “controversial,”will “tax the city’s biggest businesses to raise funds to combat homelessness.” Prop C is supposed to generate “up to $300million a year to combat the city’s homelessness crisis through initiatives like new beds in shelters and increased mental health services.” Modern Healthcare reported on November 14, 2018, that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar “said Medicaid may soon allow hospitals and health systems to directly pay for housing...or other solutions for the ‘whole person.’” Foundations are also trying to prevent housing instability.