An Affordable Housing Investment Guide for Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems

Tracey Walker shares news of an Urban Institute report from earlier this month that provides guidance for nonprofit hospitals and healthcare systems adopting a growing role in affordable housing investments.

Housing investment is relatively new for most hospitals and healthcare systems, according to Walker, but the survey operates from the assumption that "hospitals’ institutional assets, focus on health outcomes, and position as anchor institutions make them well-positioned to invest in affordable housing."

An article on the Urban Institute website by Martha Fedorowicz and Kathryn Reynolds published in April also credits policy changes initiative by the Affordable Care Act with some of the new housing initiatives by the healthcare industry.

Walker parses out the key findings of the survey results published in August in a list, including a list of three concrete ways hospitals and healthcare systems can support housing investments:

• Donating land or buildings or swapping land with a housing developer;
• Using their financial position to enhance credit or lowering borrowing costs, or provide a direct loan for construction, renovation, or rehabilitation costs; and
• Contributing staff time or capital to encourage others to invest in affordable housing development. 

For more background and context for the survey, see also another Urban Institute article written by Mathew Eldridge, along with Fedorowicz and Reynolds, to supplement the release of the survey findings.