Vanessa Fry, research director for the Idaho Policy Institute, spoke on a March 3 housing and healthcare panel at the Idaho Conference on Housing and Economic Development.
The panel featured experts who shared proven links between access to healthcare and positive housing outcomes. They discussed resources and highlighted opportunities for cooperation.
Fry spoke specifically about the use of data to identify the impacts homelessness and substandard housing can have on individuals’ health and the associated public costs. She also gave a brief report on New Path Community Housing. She was joined by Jennifer Palagi from Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, who spoke about the social determinants of health and why health systems are investing in housing, and Kendra Lutes from Terry Reilly Health Services, who spoke from the clinical perspective of housing as healthcare and the issues she and her colleagues most often see in unstably housed clients. Deanna Watson, from the Boise City/Ada County Housing Authorities, moderated the discussion.
Fry also spoke at the March 4 Urban Land Institute Idaho conference. There, she was on a panel that discussed opportunities to adjust policy to encourage more affordable housing in the area.