Health Impact Assessment Informs Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Policy
Health Impact Assessment Informs Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Policy
Where you live can have long-lasting effects on your health. Policies directing development of affordable housing have traditionally not focused on fostering positive health outcomes.
But a more comprehensive approach to encouraging development in neighborhoods of opportunity can promote improved population health and further aid in compliance with the Fair Housing Act.
Georgia allocates $22 million in support of affordable housing development each year through low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC), distributed through the Qualified Allocation Plan. A grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, enabled the Georgia Health Policy Center, in partnership with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, to evaluate how public health perspectives could be more strongly incorporated into affordable housing policy in Georgia.
The Health Impact Assessment of the 2015 Qualified Allocation Plan for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in Georgia identifies how the state’s allocation of LIHTC can be strengthened to support health-promoting affordable housing development. These proposed policy changes in the health impact assessment centered on strengthening connections between LIHTC properties and their surrounding communities, encouraging access to educational opportunity, and promoting healthy design and operation.
Please click here to see the Summary Brief.