Posts

Timing and Duration of Pre- and Postnatal Homelessness and the Health of Young Children

Housing as a Health Care Investment: Affordable Housing Supports Children’s Health

Affordable and stable housing plays a critical role in supporting the health and well-being of children. Research from Children’s HealthWatch shows public investment in housing—including housing for homeless families and […]

Compounding Stress: The Timing and Duration Effects of Homelessness on Children’s Health

New research from Children’s Health Watch highlighted in a joint brief with the Center for Housing Policy at the National Housing Conference shows the younger and longer a child experiences homelessness, the greater the cumulative toll of negative health outcomes, which can have lifelong effects on the child, the family and the community.

What about the fathers and how can we help?

Today, most families are no longer the traditional model of “family” – a mother and father with 2.5 kids and a dog with a home-cooked meal on the table every […]

Mothers’ hopes and dreams – keeping our children safe, fed and housed

As a mother of two beautiful young girls, nothing brings me greater joy than seeing the smiles on their faces. They keep me going even when things in life are […]

The Housing Vaccine for Homeless Families: It’s time to do what works

As a pediatrician and researcher on how housing affects child health, I see the unintended consequences of public policy playing out on the bodies on my patients every day. I […]

Rx for Hunger: Affordable Housing

A report by Children’s HealthWatch and the Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston finds that subsidized housing plays a significant role in protecting young children from food insecurity and the health risks of being seriously underweight. This report confirms that increased support for subsidized housing must be a part of the strategy to end childhood hunger.

Bringing Children in from the Cold: Solutions for Boston’s Hidden Homeless

Children’s HealthWatch and the Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston released a joint report entitled “Bringing Children in from the Cold: Solutions for Boston’s Hidden Homeless.” The report describes a population of “hidden homeless” families and new research showing that children in these families are more likely to be hungry and in poor health. Unrecorded by any homeless census, these families move frequently, often into overcrowded apartments, or double up with another family never knowing how long they can stay. The report estimates that there are over 14,800 hidden homeless families in Boston and that this number is likely to grow as the economy declines.