Project Description
Organization:
County of Los Angeles – Department of Public Health
Summary:
In January 2015, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) launched a coordinated, department-wide initiative, Healthier Housing = Healthier Communities, to strategically address social determinants of health. Local concerns related to housing affordability, stability and quality are ever present in Los Angeles County and have recently risen to crisis level. Due in part to DPH’s traditional roles, responsibilities and services related to assuring quality housing and setting community conditions for optimal health, housing was chosen as the initial topic of focus. The initiative aims to build staff capacity around housing issues and create institutional commitment to addressing social determinants of health using a comprehensive departmental framework called “The 6 P’s”:
- Program Inventory: Identifying more than 20 DPH programs and services as housing-related, with activities ranging from data collection to code enforcement and policy efforts.
- Publish Materials: Highlighting local data and promoting DPH recommendations and best practices around housing and health.
- Partnerships: Initiating and building strategic partnerships across sectors.
- Push: Ensuring programs address the designated topic by developing and demonstrating progress toward housing-related goals.
- Presence on Web: Developing and promoting internal Social Determinants of Health website to provide staff access to articles, presentations, and other materials.
- Policy: Developing a strategic policy platform and partnering with stakeholders to move forward policy solutions to address health equity and social determinants of health.
To learn more about the Healthy Housing = Healthy Communities check out this video