To Meet a ‘Prerequisite for Good Health,’ Health System Heads to Colorado’s Housing Market
A new affordable rental property is the latest example of how Intermountain Health is helping its patients beyond the hospital walls.
Hospitals and health systems have long acknowledged that effective whole-patient care means addressing social determinants of health, such as housing, transportation and food insecurity.
That’s why Intermountain Health, a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals and 385 clinics spread throughout seven western states, makes it a point to help subsidize affordable housing efforts.
“We view safe, healthy, and affordable housing as a prerequisite to achieving good health and are happy to support its development in the communities we serve,” says Nicholas Fritz, Intermountain Impact Investing director.
Since 2019, the health system has provided over $110 million in loans and other investments for affordable housing, most of it aimed at providing innovative financing arrangements to developers of affordable housing when conventional financing is not available or affordable.
Working through its partner Mercy Community Capital, Intermountain’s most recent loan of $4 million provides the seed money for a new, 247-unit-to-be-built affordable rental property that will help serve people with low incomes, seniors, farmworkers, formerly unhoused people and people with special needs.
Intermountain’s efforts over the years have resulted in the development of over 2,000 units of affordable housing and boosted the financial wellbeing of more than 900 people.
The health system intends to continue its partnership with Mercy Community Capital to pursue affordable housing opportunities in the states it serves.