Engaging Communities to Advance Health and Housing Equity: An Action Guide

In recent decades, the healthcare field has increasingly acknowledged the importance of social determinants of health, or the conditions in which people are born and live, while improving health outcomes. The emphasis on factors such as economic stability, education access and quality, neighborhood and housing conditions, social and community access, and healthcare access elevates the understanding that place matters and that not every neighborhood offers the same opportunities for people to thrive. The Fair Housing Act, passed in 1968, provides an important tool that can be used by health practitioners to dismantle these patterns: the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) mandate.

This guide provides healthcare entities with a foundational knowledge of AFFH, illustrates the connections between fair housing and health outcomes, and outlines practical steps they can take to align their work with fair housing stakeholders to facilitate community health improvement partnerships and investments. The guide also provides fair housing stakeholders with an overview of community health needs assessments and outlines strategic steps to engage and build relationships with healthcare entities. It includes recommendations from practitioners, case studies, evidence-based approaches, and promising practices.