Summary

Enterprise Community Partners in partnership with Success Measures developed the Healthy Housing Outcomes Survey to enable its users to measure changes in resident health outcomes most likely to be influenced by healthy housing development.

Description

Enterprise Community Partners, in partnership with Success Measures, developed the Healthy Housing Outcomes Survey that will enable its users to measure changes in resident health outcomes most likely to be influenced by healthy housing development.

The survey was developed as a supporting resource for Enterprise’s Green Communities Criteria and its Health Action Plan framework; however, it has broader application for the field.  The survey assesses the benefits of healthy affordable housing itself, rather than a specific intervention. This focus allows community development corporations and affordable housing stakeholders to utilize a standard tool across housing portfolios, even when specific health-promoting strategies vary from property to property.

The final survey, available in English and Spanish, is 47 questions, takes 10-20 minutes to complete, covers 8 domains (resident satisfaction; health status; eating habits; physical activity; respiratory health; children’s health status; building maintenance; and social connections), and includes demographic questions for analysis purposes. The survey can be used as a point-in-time measurement of resident health related to housing but will be more impactful if administered annually to assess trends in the health and well-being of residents over time. Used as a feedback loop, the survey results may identify the need to maintain, alter or add a health-enhancing intervention. 

Individual survey questions were drawn from the Success Measures Health Measurement Outcome Tools which were specifically designed to measure the health outcomes of housing and community development programs, as well as the literature base. Our Healthy Housing Outcomes Survey was field tested through two focus groups of affordable housing residents.