At the Intersection of Housing and Health
Friday, November 6, 2015
8:30am-4:30pm
David Evans & Associates, 2100 SW River Parkway
Portland, Oregon
Advocates and policymakers increasingly recognize the connection between housing and health outcomes for individuals and communities. In response, advocates from healthcare and housing are coming together to create healthy, connected, opportunity-rich communities, with an emphasis on safe, affordable housing. HLA’s 2015 conference delves deeper into this theme, asking what causes poor health outcomes in local communities and investigating best practices for mitigating and preventing them. Speakers and panelists represent diverse perspectives, including environmental justice advocates working to bring healthy homes to low-income communities, local efforts to understand the epigenetics of poverty, design-based solutions to healthcare challenges, and rural efforts to integrate health services in residential communities. Within all of this, we’ll continue our investigation into residential housing patterns in both rural and metro areas, and how changes are impacting the affordable housing stock and health outcomes for residents. HLA’s 2015 conference will bring together national, regional and local experts to explore these concepts and consider ways to bring health home.
Conference Materials
8:30am: Registration and Coffee
9:00am: 2015 Conference Welcome, Jennifer Bragar, President, Housing Land Advocates
9:10am: Keynote Address: Environmental justice, health and the affordable housing crisis
Steve Fischbach, Community Lawyer, Rhode Island Legal Services
Steve Fischbach is Supervising Attorney at Rhode Island Legal Service, and co-founded the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island. His legal experience spans a variety of racial justice issues, including environmental justice, community reinvestment and disinvestment, urban school reform, siting of low-income housing and facilities for the homeless, and preservation of public and subsidized housing units.
Article: Poisoned by Poverty: A Call to Improve Health Outcomes for Low-Income and Minority Children
9:50am: The epigenetics of poverty: How poverty determines health outcomes
Rachael Banks, Director, Healthy Birth Initiative, Multnomah County Health Department
Presentation: The Epigenetics of Poverty: What’s Housing Got to Do With It?
10:20am: Break and coffee
10:30am: Affordable housing siting and neighborhood environmental factors that impact health
Dr. Vivek Shandas, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University
Presentation: Neighborhoods and Environmental Health: Characterizing environmental health disparities in Portland
11:10am: Providing health services in affordable housing to allow residents to age in place
Howard Klink and Mari Matsumoto, Consultants, Enterprise Community Partners
Presentation: Health & Housing
11:40am: Morning Panel: What should local jurisdictions do to address environmental concerns regarding affordable housing?
Steve Fischbach, Rachael Banks, Vivek Shandas, Howard Klink
12:10pm: Lunch and presentation of the inaugural Ed Sullivan Housing Advocate Award
1:10pm: Gentrification, anti-displacement policies and environmental justice in the City of Portland
Dr. Lisa Bates, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, and Director of the Center for Urban Studies, Portland State University
1:40pm: Addressing Environmental Justice as a non-profit renter advocacy group
Justin Buri, Executive Director, Community Alliance of Tenants; Dr. Moriah McSharry McGrath, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Pacific University
2:05pm: Addressing environmental justice through place-based community organizing
Nick Sauvie, Executive Director, ROSE Community Development / East Portland Action Plan representative
2:30pm: Break and coffee
2:40pm: Addressing environmental justice in urban areas
Jim Long, Affordable Housing Manager, City of Bend, OR
Presentation: Environmental Justice in an Urban Area
3:05pm: Addressing environmental justice in rural areas
Erin Skaar, Executive Director, Community Action Resource Enterprises (CARE), Inc., Tillamook County, OR
Presentation: Housing in Tillamook County
3:30pm: Afternoon Panel: Alleviating environmental justice concerns- common themes from across Oregon
Dr. Lisa Bates, Justin Buri, Nick Sauvie, Jim Long, Erin Skaar, Dr. Moriah McSharry McGrath
4:00pm: Funding tools for local jurisdictions to support affordable housing development
Jes Larson, Director, Welcome Home Coalition
Presentation: Towards Local Solutions for Housing: Building a Movement to Identify and Secure Local Resources for Affordable Housing
4:30pm: Closing comments