Health Impact Assessment and Housing

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The housing sector is an important partner for promoting and conducting health impact assessments.

There is a well-established link between housing and health (see, for example, reports by the U.S. Surgeon General, the Department of Housing and Urban Development , the World Health Organization, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). Policy decisions about the location, quality, and affordability of housing have the ability to affect residents’ health and safety, which makes the housing sector an important partner for promoting and conducting health impact assessments (HIAs).

Recently, the Health Impact Project—a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts—joined with the National Center for Healthy Housing and the National Housing Conference to create a set of issue briefs, titled Health Impact Assessment and Housing,  that highlight ways to integrate the consideration of health into housing policy and projects through the use of HIAs:

• “Health Impact Assessment and Housing: Opportunities for the Housing Sector” introduces housing professionals and policymakers to the process of HIA and explains how assessments can improve decision-making about projects, policies, and programs related to housing and community development.
• “Health Impact Assessment and Housing: Opportunities for the Public Health Sector" provides public health professionals with information about major housing programs and policies, identifies key decision-makers, and discusses how they can effectively integrate health into housing decisions.