The health sector recognizes that population health is shaped by many non-clinical factors, including social and economic factors. Among these, housing is of critical importance, especially during a pandemic. The health field—from government public health agencies to health systems—works to measure community and patient needs relevant to health, invest in community development, and engage to draw decision-maker attention to the linkages between unfair and preventable health disparities and community living conditions. Housing insecurity is both a chronic, and in the context of the pandemic, an acute health-related social need.

The new National Academies report Rental Eviction and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Averting a Looming Crisis presents a compendium of recommendations for near, short, medium, and long term actions to tackle the crisis with attention to housing choice, affordability, and security. An educational webinar will highlight housing stability as a public health strategy, and discuss goals and actions in which health sector actors can partner with, and support or amplify the work and efforts of those with primary responsibility for ensuring access to housing.