Decent, stable, and affordable rental housing has the power to improve lives, yet background checks and other systemic barriers reduce housing access and stability for a large part of the population—people who have been arrested or who are reentering communities after incarceration.

Build success with effective enforcement. Someone who smokes where smoking is prohibited is violating the policy. Enforcement of the smoke-free policy is similar to enforcement of other building policies, like noise or pet restrictions. Be consistent, fair, positive, and pragmatic.

Build success by helping smokers comply with the policy. Some residents who smoke may not be ready or able to stop smoking, but you can work with them to help them comply with the policy.

Build success by supporting cessation among smokers for whom a smoke-free housing policy may provide motivation to quit.

Build success by partnering with local agencies and organizations. Community partners can advise during planning, education residents during implementation, and help support cessation.

Build success by training staff on how to effectively share information about the policy and the importance of consistent enforcement.

Build Success by engaging residents. Residents can be a strong asset in planning, communication, implementation, and compliance efforts.

Developing effective smoke-free policies requires clear language about why the policy is being adopted, where smoking is and isn't allowed, who is responsible for reporting and investigating violations, and how the policy will be enforced.

Times are changing rapidly for families—our households, work and the workforce do not look like they did just a decade ago. Challenges and barriers for parents continue to grow – skyrocketing costs of health care and child care, lack of flexibility at the workplace, and less time at home.

A healthy birth and positive experiences in early childhood can promote health and development.

Evidence shows that retrofitting the entire stock of multifamily apartment buildings in the United States could save tenants and property owners $8 billion a year in energy costs and reduce electricity consumption by almost 15 percent.

To understand more about housing from an epidemiologist’s perspective, we spoke with Earle Chambers, an associate professor in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The firearm, obesity, and opioid epidemics are among the most important public health crises of our time. Each epidemic has a complex etiology that challenges efforts at mitigation.

Health care in the United States is long overdue for an upheaval. The mismatch between costs, by far the highest in the world, and health outcomes, among the worst in the high-income world, has long been glaring. Perhaps the good news is that the time for such an upheaval has come.

In this post, we hope to inspire others working in PreK-12 educational settings to examine rates of chronic absenteeism among the students they serve.

To explore the benefits and challenges of rapid re-housing support services, How Housing Matters asked a group of experts to weigh in.

Affordable housing campaigns are not new, of course, but what is unprecedented and transformative about Opportunity Starts at Home is the scope and diversity of the partners that are joining forces to advocate for more robust and equitable federal housing policies.

Delegates at the 2018 American Medical Association Annual Meeting in Chicago adopted several policies intended to alleviate chronic homelessness and racial housing segregation

“Families are borrowing from already-limited food budgets to keep a roof over their heads”

Access To Affordable Housing Increases Stability For Vulnerable Households And Helps Avert Homelessness.

Investments in affordable housing are a proven catalyst for economic growth, job creation, and development.

Safe, affordable housing enables low-income people to climb up the income ladder and achieve the American Dream.

"Residential segregation is at the heart of racial inequality in the country. All of the disparities in the U.S. — in education, in income, wealth, employment, health — between the races are all fundamentally linked to residential segregation.

Individuals transitioning out of the criminal justice system need a good place to call home so that they can reconnect with society and rebuild their lives.

Quality affordable housing can be a “vaccine” which prevents long-term health problems and promotes healthy, productive lives. When a family’s housing situation is unaffordable and unstable, chances to lead a healthy life dwindle rapidly.