Filling the Housing Opportunity Gap
The Need is Significant. Housing instability affects the health and well-being of children and families. When families fall behind on rent, are forced to move multiple times, and/or experience homelessness, infants and toddlers are placed at an increased risk of being in poor health and not meeting developmental milestones. This creates a “housing opportunity gap” […]
Closing the Housing Opportunity Gap
Investing in vouchers improves neighborhoods and health Given robust evidence on the effectiveness of rental assistance in reducing housing instability and promoting health, deep investments in housing subsidies are urgently needed to ensure families can afford rent in the neighborhood of their choice. Passage of The Family Stability and Opportunity Act and The Ending Homelessness […]
Closing the Housing Opportunity Gap
Investing in Housing Vouchers Improves Neighborhoods and Health Every parent strives to ensure their child grows up in a stable home where they can reach their fullest potential. Decades of research shows that when children – particularly young children – have access to high-quality, affordable homes and in neighborhoods with economic opportunities, green space, good […]
A Bold Federal Response to Eviction Protects Health and Housing Stability
Millions of families across the United States – disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and immigrants – struggle to maintain adequate housing and live on the brink of eviction and homelessness. The economic fallout of COVID-19 has exacerbated this challenge, and placed one in six families at risk of eviction – three times […]
Eviction: A Preventable Cause of Adverse Child and Family Health
Research consistently shows that children and their families need access to safe, stable, and affordable homes throughout their lifetimes in order to thrive. However, rising housing costs coupled with stagnant wages and disinvestment in affordable housing has resulted in extreme housing cost burdens and housing instability for millions of families across the United States. Due […]
The American Rescue Plan: A Prescription for Child Health and Stability During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Last week the House voted to advance the American Rescue Plan Act sending the COVID-19 Relief package to the Senate. The $1.9 trillion relief package contains policies that seek to address the economic stability and health of people and communities, providing urgently needed resources to pave the way for recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic and the […]
A First Look at Preliminary Children’s HealthWatch COVID-19 Survey Data
High Levels of Household Food Insecurity Persist among Families in Boston, Massachusetts during the COVID-19 Pandemic Key Takeaways In Metro Boston, rates of household food insecurity have persisted at high levels among Children’s HealthWatch families. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary data show 38.5 percent of families with very young children were food insecure. Federal, state, […]
Moving Toward a More Equitable and Just Society: A New “What If Project” System Simulation Policy Brief
For 22 years, we have sought to understand what children need to reach their fullest potential. This search has led us to embark on a bold thought experiment and ask: What if the structural inequities that drive racial/ethnic disparities in education attainment in the United States were eliminated? We share our attempt to answer that […]