Dear John,

ICYMI, we released another installment of our special Health Affairs This Week miniseries, leading up to the February theme issue on housing and health, which was released yesterday.

Last week, Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviewed Michael Lens from the University of California Los Angeles on low-density zoning and neighborhood segregation.

Health Impacts of Housing First

In the February Housing & Health issue of Health Affairs, Devlin Hanson and Sarah Gillespie of the Urban Institute examine the effects of participating in a Denver, Colorado–based Housing First program.

Housing First provides recipients with permanent supportive housing and recognizes that housing is a necessary foundation for engagement in health services.

During the two-year study period, the authors found that recipients had “significantly more office-based for psychiatric diagnoses, fewer ED visits, more unique prescription medications, and greater use of other health care” than those in the control group.

Hanson and Gillespie suggest that policy makers utilize Housing First to facilitate access to health care needs.

For more on this paper, check out a video abstract featuring author Devlin Hanson below.

Michael Mayer on Encampment Clearings and Transitional Housing

Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Michael Mayer of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program on his recent paper that explores the impacts of encampment clearings on the homeless population in Boston and how transitional harm reduction housing provided a unique opportunity for former encampment residents.

Measuring The Health Of Primary Care: Lessons From US And Global Scorecards

Barbra G. Rabson et al.

This Black History Month, we're highlighting influential Black voices and organizations who have made an impact on health equity and policy.

In an August 2023 Forefront article, Elaine O. Nsoesie discusses opportunities for using information from internet sources to understand and develop policies to address pre-hospital diagnostic delay for specific conditions.