Research and News Roundup:
August 2025

Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

The Research and News Roundup is a monthly blog series that features a curated list of recent news and research related to housing instability, homelessness, and affordable housing. Together, these topics provide insights about the full housing continuum and provide community stakeholders with information about emergent research, promising practices, and innovative solutions related to housing and homelessness.

This month’s blog focuses on efforts by healthcare systems to address housing instability, data-driven approaches to preserving affordable housing, and a technology solution to more quickly and accurately connect people living unsheltered to shelter resources.

HOUSING INSTABILITY

In Camden And Atlantic City, Health Care Systems Are Treating Housing As A Public Health Issue

In Atlantic City and Camden, New Jersey, two health care systems (AtlantiCare and Cooper University Health Care) have begun providing housing support in addition to medical care. For staff facing housing affordability challenges, AtlantiCare provides employees with financial coaching and homebuyer education. The Unite initiative at Cooper University utilizes the Unite platform (formerly Unite Us) to connect patients to housing and social services.  Both approaches are grounded in research that suggests that housing instability has direct, negative impacts on physical and mental health outcomes. Both AtlantiCare and Cooper University are incorporating housing support into their care models with the goal of improving community health outcomes, wellbeing, and housing stability.

HOMELESSNESS

New App Helps Connect San Diego’s Homeless Population With Available Shelter Beds

In an effort to more quickly connect people experiencing homelessness to available shelter beds, San Diego County has launched the Shelter Ready app. The app provides outreach staff with real-time data on shelter bed availability for shelter beds across San Diego County. In addition, the app also allows outreach workers to filter results based on an individual or household’s specific needs (e.g. pet-friendly, LGBTQ+ affirming, households with minor children, etc.). The app enables outreach staff to quickly connect people who are living unsheltered to a shelter bed at the moment they are most open to seeking shelter. Shelter Ready is free for cities and organizations in San Diego County. Its goal is to enhance efficiency in resource allocation and improve transparency and equity.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

What’s the Key to Preserving Unsubsidized Affordable Housing?

This article from the Urban Institute highlights strategies for preserving unsubsidized affordable housing. It provides examples of how two large cities have leveraged local data to identify at-risk properties and inform local policy decisions. The article suggests that combining quantitative data with resident engagement leads to more effective naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) preservation efforts. Partnerships between data analysts, community organizations, policymakers, and municipalities facilitate tailored strategies and programs to ensure affordable housing options for low- and middle-income residents.