June is National Home Ownership Month and the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) commends our health system members for their investments in and support for affordable housing, including ownership and permanently affordable housing strategies such as Community Land Trusts and Resident-Owned Communities.
One recent example is HAN member UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh donating land to create no-rent, 75-year land leases for the Mosaic Apartments, a new 48-unit affordable housing complex for LGBTQ+ seniors. The site is next to UPMC’s Magee-Womens Hospital. The land donation allowed the development to move forward and to ensure the project’s long-term affordability. More than $28 million has been raised for the project, with $4 million funded from state low-income housing tax credits.
From the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette story:
The cumulative impact of discrimination and inequality has led to lower earning power and higher poverty rates in this group. Nearly one-third of LGBTQ+ adults ages 65 and older live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, compared to a quarter of non-LGBTQ+ older adults. This percentage rises to 40% of LGBT older adults 80 and older, according to a 2016 study.
See also: Opportunity Finance Network’s blog article on Hawai’i Community Lending (HCL), which HAN member Hawai’i Pacific Health invests in to fund affordable housing with a particular focus on Native Hawaiians and rural families.
See also: HAN member Boston Medical Center (BMC) hosted the Housing is Health Care roundtable to discuss housing’s impact on public health and programs to support affordable housing, including home ownership.