Housing, Health, and Equity: A Conversation on Addressing Complex Interconnected Issues Through Collaboration

Our EJB Talks podcast this week features Joel Cantor⁠, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and Kathe Newman, Professor and Director of the Ralph W. Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement. They are part of a new Rutgers initiative, the Housing and Health Equity Cluster, which aims to address health equity issues through interdisciplinary collaboration across university departments. Professor Newman discusses how, through her urban planning work, she became interested in the connection between lack of affordable housing and poor health. Professor Cantor's research into the health conditions of vulnerable populations utilizing Medicaid was often linked to long-term chronic homelessness. They explain how housing and health issues are deeply intertwined, with one constantly impacting the other in a cycle that is difficult to break. The work of the HHE cluster seeks to better understand these relationships and challenges through data analysis informing policy solutions for a better future for permanent supportive housing.