Developing Access

This collaborative research considers the effectiveness of co-locating and co-programming housing and healthcare as a strategy to improve health outcomes and healthcare access for low-income seniors.

This effort was funded by a grant provided by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to Mercy Housing Southeast (MHSE) to assess the effectiveness of the health and housing partnership at Mercy Park in Chamblee, GA. Resident Services at Mercy Park collaborates with community agencies to provide on-site services to residents to address social determinants that can negatively impact independent living, housing stability, aging in place, and a decreased need for higher levels of care.

Mercy Park is co-located with Mercy Care Chamblee, a Federally Qualified Health Care Center (FQHC) that provides a number of health care and health and wellness services. The co-located collaborative partnership between Mercy Park and Mercy Care provides a wraparound approach to meeting the needs of residents while decreasing or removing external barriers to health and wellness.

Essential Elements of Healthcare Access

When examining the potential of housing and housing providers to both address social determinants of health and aid residents in overcoming common barriers to healthcare access, we must consider the following, all of which must be met in order for an individual to access the care they may need:

Financial Means
Language and Medical Terminology
Memory, Reminders and Overwhelm
Timing and Availability
Transportation, Physical / Telehealth
Access and Safety
Services Integrate with Culture

Photo by Dorian Shy, courtesy of [frame]work Photographic

Quick Reference Guides

We’ve examined the role of the housing provider in supporting residents to improve access to health care and organized our findings into three quick-reference guides, based on practical considerations.

Continuity of Integrated Health Services: Coordinating the efforts of healthcare providers with the housing provider to improve resident health outcomes.

Operational Sustainability: Balancing the cost/benefit and feasibility of programs and services for the highest achievable benefits.

New and Best Practices: Examples of evidence-based programs that effectively address specific barriers and risk factors.

Three Quick Reference Guides provide actionable tools and resources for affordable housing providers and resident advocates. Mock up courtesy Graphics Fuel.

Real Estate Development & Annual Operations

Opportunities to facilitate partnerships between housing and healthcare in a capital project can either be strategically made during the design of the project or as decisions during operation. These timelines provide a high-level overview of the Real Estate Development and Annual Operations timelines for low-income housing providers, based on the best practices demonstrated by Mercy Housing Southeast, to shine a light on when opportunities exist to realize infrastructure for providing health promoting programs and services.