Optimizing Health and Housing Partnerships 

A Toolkit for Health Centers

2024

Nearly all Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the United States are now screening patients on Social Determinants or Drivers of Health (SDOH). In 2022, there are more than 1.3 million patients experiencing homelessness served in FQHCs and a further 521,299 experiencing housing insecurity. As health centers advance efforts to address this, the role of front-line staff is vital for managing referral networks and connecting patients with those resources. However, partnerships between health and housing systems remain limited in scale. Many health center staff report challenges with securing leadership support and adding the capacity necessary to manage partnerships and referral networks. To address this need, CSH has developed a Health and Housing Partnerships Toolkit to assist health centers in engaging with the housing sector.

This toolkit contains resources, including specific action steps and detailed, practical information on the most common housing programs and how to access them. With this information, health centers will know how to navigate the housing sector and build internal support for deep, more sustainable partnerships addressing their community’s SDOH.  

In this toolkit you will find: 

• Assessing Readiness Tool - This short, 13 question quiz determines readiness for a housing sector partnership across four domains of strengths and indicators.  
• Assessment Score Report - A report is generated with an average score across all domains ranging from 0-100% with actionable details on next steps and specific resources for each level of readiness.  
• Quick Guide to Housing Programs – Learn about the most common Federal, State and Local Housing Assistance resources, basic eligibility requirements and where to access them. The primary source for housing subsidy comes from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), however there is often a complex patchwork of additional programs at the state, county or local levels. This section can be used to identify all available resources in your area.  
• Partnership Map - Identifying the right potential partners is essential to addressing patient housing needs. Use this section of the toolkit to organize your contacts and potential partners identified in the Quick Guide.  
• Health and Housing Infographic – Learn more about the levels of partnership between FQHCs and the Housing Sector and the impact on new housing development through CSH Community Investment.  
• Frequently Asked Questions on Building Health and Housing Partnerships 

Use the download button below to access the full toolkit and use the readiness tool and score report.  For any questions, please contact Jamie Blackburn at jamie.blackburn@csh.org