The Kresge Foundation has awarded $5.9 million in grants to 20 organizations advancing innovative community-generated multi-sector solutions to improve health outcomes, housing affordability and quality.

With this funding opportunity, the foundation sought to identify and accelerate community-driven practices that connect the housing and health sectors and recognize multi-sector partnerships that preserve and increase the supply of stable housing to improve health, well-being and health equity in low-income communities.

“Housing, particularly for low- and moderate-income households, is an important platform for individuals and families to achieve health, well-being and economic stability,” Stacey Barbas, senior program officer with the Health Program, said. “The most effective solutions will emerge when community members have the tools, power and support they need to influence the public and private systems that shape their lives.”

Grantees include:

• American Heart Association, Dallas, Texas
• Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement, Atlanta, Georgia
• Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership, Baltimore, Maryland
• Berkeley Media Studies Group, Berkeley, California
• Bread for the City, Washington, DC
• Chicanos Por La Causa, Maricopa, Arizona
• Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Hartford, Connecticut
• Homes for All South, New York, New York
• Hope Community, Inc., Minneapolis, MN
• Latino Health Access, Santa Ana, California
• Make the Road NY, New York, New York
• Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance,  Boston, Massachusetts
• Miami Workers Center, Miami, Florida
• Neighborhood Developers, Chelsea, Massachusetts
• Partnership for the Public Good, Buffalo, New York
• PolicyLink, Oakland, California
• Right to the City, New York, New York
• Vanguard Community Development, Detroit, Michigan
• West Harlem Environmental Action, New York, New York
• Yakima Valley Conference of Governments, Yakima County, Washington

Projects focus on health outcomes that include children’s health; complex patient needs; housing-related conditions like asthma and lead poisoning; neighborhood conditions affecting health such as trauma, stress and other mental health issues; and prevention of chronic diseases. Work also links to other promising practices such as new financing methods that connect the housing and health sectors and centering a Promotora model to address housing issues related to health problems.

This is Kresge’s second funding opportunity to support advancing health equity through housing. The foundation selected 13 grantees for its initial round of grant funding in December 2018.