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Housing Is Healthcare. So Why Are Plans Still Stuck?

I talk to a lot of health plans. And the thing I keep hearing over and over is this: “We know housing matters. We know it drives better health outcomes.”

So… what’s the holdup? Most plans know housing is the right move. But they still don’t move. And the reasons why are actually pretty consistent.

Why Plans Hesitate (Even When They Know They Shouldn’t)

Here’s what I see as the biggest blockers:

1. They think they already have something in place.
   We’ll talk to teams who believe they’ve got a housing program, maybe a couple staff members helping with housing, or a few partnerships in play. But when you zoom out, it’s not scaled. It’s not reaching enough people. And it’s not built to move the needle long-term. It’s really more of a project than a program.
   
2. Funding confusion.
   This one comes up a lot. Folks get stuck trying to figure out where the dollars come from. Is it admin? Is it medical spend? Truth is, you can fund this through medical, but you’ve got to show the impact on ED visits, on readmissions, on total cost of care. We’ve done that work. The savings are there. But you have to connect the dots.
   
3. It feels too complex to launch.
   Some teams worry they’ll have to overhaul everything. New workflows, new teams, too much red tape. That’s just not true. Starting doesn’t mean launching across the whole population. It can be small, targeted, and fast.
   

The Gap Between Talking and Doing

There’s a big difference between evaluating a housing initiative and actually getting one off the ground.

Sometimes, the lightbulb goes off when a plan realizes their current approach just isn’t cutting it. Other times, they’re curious and open but they’re still underestimating the size of the problem.

We talked to a plan recently that said they were handling about 50 housing cases a month. On paper, that might sound decent. But based on their Medicaid population, we know they’re likely missing hundreds, maybe thousands of housing-insecure members. That’s a huge gap. And every one of those missed cases is also a missed opportunity to reduce downstream costs and improve outcomes.

The Smartest First Step: Start Small, Prove It Fast

I always tell plans don’t overthink it. Don’t get overwhelmed.

We’ve built our model so that you can start small with what we call a soft launch. We can take on just a handful of referrals each month, working directly with your case management team. No need to hire anyone new or spin up a massive internal program. There’s low financial risk. No major disruption. And if it doesn’t work for some reason? You can turn it off. But here’s the thing: it does work. We’ve seen it. So pick a region. Pick a case manager or two. Let us show you what happens when housing gets handled the right way. The data you get back will speak for itself and that makes the case for expansion.

What Successful Programs Do Differently

The ones that win? They engage. Period.

More than 90% of the members referred to us for housing support? We engage with them. We enroll them. We walk with them through every step of the housing journey.

Sometimes that’s helping them build a basic housing plan. Sometimes it’s getting them into a unit with a lease they can afford and sustain. Either way, we’re not just giving them a checklist and sending them off. We stick with them.

And when people get stable housing? Everything else improves:

• They’re seeing their PCPs
  
• They’re showing up to behavioral health visits
  
• They’re staying on meds
  
• They’re sticking with care plans
  

You get better engagement across the board and that shows up in your metrics, your outcomes, your bottom line.

Final Thought

If you’re waiting for the perfect moment to launch a housing program, you’ll be waiting a long time. The path is already there. The model already works. Some plans are still evaluating. Others are already making progress. The difference? One group made the decision to start.

So the question is are you going to keep thinking about it, or are you going to do something?