Greater Minnesota Housing Fund creates initiative to connect health care systems to supportive housing

Nicole Ronchetti, The Bemidji Pioneer, Minn.
·4 min read

Apr. 1—For Eric Muschler, the link between stable housing and health is very clear. He saw it firsthand with his brother.

"My brother, who was schizophrenic, after going to the hospital (he) was connected to affordable housing with a drop-in center where he could go take his medication," Muschler shared. "He went on to live 20 years where he was content and didn't have any other issues with his illness."

Based out of the Twin Cities, Muschler is now the director of the Housing and Health Equity Initiative with the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and has been working diligently to create similar opportunities by encouraging health care systems to invest in supportive and affordable housing.

"We know that housing stability is actually health care," Muschler explained. "The well-being of people who are stably housed is improved, we see that all the time."

The Greater Minnesota Housing Fund works to advance affordable housing in communities across the state through investment and partnerships. Since its founding in 1996, GMHF has helped create more than 18,000 affordable housing units.

GMHF's most recent project, a learning cohort bringing together six of the largest health care systems in Minnesota, aims to advance investment by health care organizations into housing in their communities.

Each of the six health care systems, which include Essentia Health, CentraCare and M-Health Fairview, are sending a team of professionals to go through the year-long program to learn about community impact investment and how social determinants of health can be improved by housing.

The goal is for each of these teams to return to their organizations and enact projects and changes that will provide benefits to both the health care systems and the communities they serve.

"We hope that there is a whole pipeline of projects that are created out of this where health care is more directly involved with housing organizations," Muschler shared. "It's a paradigm shift to think about their investments as both benefiting the health of individuals using their system but also getting a return on their investment."

Even outside of the monetary return, Muschler explained that by investing in their community's health through housing, health care systems can also reduce their own operating costs.

"For homeless people who are 'frequent flyers' in emergency rooms, (health care systems) could create housing that serves that population," Muschler shared as an example. "That actually helps the hospital reduce its costs in the emergency room."

By helping vulnerable or low-income families and individuals have access to stable housing, Muschler explained that their health outcomes improve.

"We see improvement in people who live in this kind of affordable housing because they have more income to deal with medical issues. They have more stability so kids in the home get a better education," Muschler said. "That connection is really critical."

Muschler actually shared an example in Bemidji of how health care systems can directly invest in their communities.

While Sanford Health is not a part of GMHF's learning cohort, Muschler used its donation of land for the

new Bemidji Veterans Home

as something he hopes other health care systems can emulate.

"The new veterans home that's being constructed right now is an example where a hospital's donation was the catalyst," Muschler shared. "It provided an avenue for all of the other resources that came in to complete that project."

Muschler hopes to use Sanford's investment in Bemidji as a model for ways that other health care systems can invest in their own communities.

"It's a really good example of how it's not just about financial resources, the donation of land can be the difference that creates affordable housing as well," Muschler said. "It's one of those examples I really want to hold up as a way projects can be implemented."

Through connecting health care and housing, GMHF hopes to spark action that can be beneficial to communities and health care systems alike.

"Health care could be a really important player in continuing to advance affordable housing," Muschler said. "What are the models of housing and health that we can create? And where can we replicate those models?"

To learn more about GMHF and its Housing and Health Equity Initiative, visit the

organization's website.