Evaluation of the Healthy Housing Initiative: Final Report
September 18, 2026
The five-year Healthy Housing Initiative demonstrated that collaborations between service agencies and health systems can improve health, reduce public costs, and help restore humanity to individuals who have been marginalized.
Summary
This report provides a thorough evaluation of Catholic Charities USA’s (CCUSA) five-year Healthy Housing Initiative (HHI). The HHI program was piloted from January 2020 through December 2024 in response to the worsening homelessness issue in the United States and the desire to see how a CCUSA/Catholic Health system collaboration could help address it.
The goals of the HHI program were to (1) house at least 20% of people who experienced chronic homelessness in the five pilot cities (Detroit; St. Louis; Las Vegas; Portland, Ore. and Spokane) based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 2019 Point in Time (PIT) numbers; (2) decrease the numbers of emergency room visits/hospital stays of those housed by at least 25%; and (3) connect 35% of newly housed persons to primary care and behavioral health services.
related publications
Healthy Housing Reports
The Healthy Housing Initiative was a five-year pilot program that linked persons experiencing chronic homelessness with housing and healthcare services to help them remain off the streets.
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