SDOH Intervention Targets Housing Stability for Incarcerated People

NYC Health + Hospitals and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development have announced the creation of Just Home, a SDOH intervention targeting housing instability for previously incarcerated people.

Centering its efforts around providing care for residents of New York City, NYC Health + Hospitals consists of 70 patient care locations. In collaboration with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the organizations plan to provide care for various conditions such as heart illness, cancer, and renal disease through Just Home.

Correctional Health Services and the Fortune Society will also play a role in caring for patients by identifying needs and managing social services.

Just Home also plans on sheltering the patients it serves. Program participants will have access to 70 studio apartments and a two-bedroom apartment that belongs to the NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi campus in the Bronx.

“Just Home aligns with NYC Health + Hospitals’ mission to deliver high-quality health services to our patients and to improve the health and well-being of all New Yorkers – especially the most marginalized, such as our patients who have come into the care of Correctional Health Services,” said Mitchell Katz, MD, NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO, in a press release.

“We know that stable, affordable housing is critical to our patients’ health and well-being and that supportive housing projects like Just Home can improve residents’ health outcomes and prevent hospitalizations.”

Community engagement has been at the heart of creating Just Home.NYC Health + Hospitals, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and the Fortune Society said they informed their stakeholders of the process.

“Our shared vision for the building is clear: to provide safe, affordable housing and robust social services to medically complex homeless individuals, mixed with affordable housing for the larger community. We look forward to serving as good neighbors to the local community, as we have done with our other housing and service locations,” said JoAnne Page, President and CEO of the Fortune Society.

Previous research and efforts have indicated that ensuring access to care for incarcerated people can be difficult but remains essential.

Research from July 2022 found that the COVID-19 pandemic made it challenging to provide primary and specialty care for the prison population. This was mainly due to incarceration being a prominent social determinant of health and how COVID-19 mitigation strategies negatively affected the prison population. However, following the withdrawal of certain restrictions, providers aimed to eliminate barriers.