Improving health and housing outcomes through systems coordination: Partnering homeless assistance and mainstream health care

Housing is a key social determinant of health. Stable housing is critical to achieving and maintaining good health. Likewise, good health is vital to housing stability and retention. However, housing assistance and health care systems remain largely separated, even for providers serving the same populations. Coordination across these two systems is vital to ensuring that people experiencing homelessness are properly assessed for health care needs, and are able to access appropriate and adequate health care. A recent series of of twenty action planning convenings brought together key stakeholders from both systems, revealing a consistent need in communities and states across the country for HCH programs to play a greater role in homeless assistance Continuums of Care. This presentation will include case studies from around the country, highlighting established and promising innovative partnerships between HCH programs, other health care providers and homeless assistance agencies that can be replicated in additional communities. The presentation will offer strategies for facilitating partnerships and coordination among hospitals, managed care organizations, HCH programs, other Federally Qualified Health Centers, and housing programs, with the ultimate goal of leveraging the array of homeless-targeted and mainstream resources to improve the quality of care available to and accessed by people experiencing homelessness.