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• Affordability matters. Experts stressed the links between affordability and health, explaining that when housing is not affordable, people are forced to make trade-offs that can have dramatic negative effects on their health. #ey may not see doctors. #ey may eat poorly. #ey may not be able to exercise or join a sports league. In other words, housing affordability has a signi"cant impact on health outcomes. • Effects are cascading. Experts explained that low-quality housing can cause a spiral of health problems, missed employment, and loss of income, leading to even worse housing options and a continuing cascade of negative outcomes. How Should Housing Be Improved? • !ere should be more focus on prevention. Experts consistently emphasized the importance of a preventive approach, arguing that more resources should be devoted to policies and programs aimed at preventing problems before they start. For example, experts advocated for frequent and mandatory housing inspections that include health conditions as part of the checklist, both for individually owned homes and rentals. • Environments must be built for health. Housing experts frequently mentioned the need to focus simultaneously on individual homes and broader built environments. #ey emphasized that environments should be walkable and provide access to jobs, transportation, healthcare, healthy and nutritious foods, community services, and social interaction. #ese types of healthy environments are vital not only for physical health, but also for mental health and well-being more generally. • Housing must be more affordable. Experts maintained that policies should be enacted to increase the availability of affordable housing. #ey mentioned a variety of ways this could be accomplished, such as subsidies, zoning changes, public housing, and land trusts. #ey emphasized that policies to deal with the cost and availability of housing must include measures to address homelessness. • Housing and healthcare should be integrated. Experts called for more integration between the "elds of housing and healthcare. While they acknowledged that integrating these "elds would be difficult, given their current siloed nature, they argued that information sharing between "elds and the pooling of funds to target the root causes of health problems would increase efficiency and improve outcomes in both domains. "A House, a Tent, a Box": Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understanding of Healthy Housing 14

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