In 2017, the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the Fairfax County Health Department, in partnership with George Mason University, Center for the Study of Chronic Illness and Disability (GMU CCID) met to discuss how to address the health needs of the community served by the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA). Resident health has been an on-going concern and a pillar of the THRIVE (Total Housing Reinvention for Individual Success, Vital Services and Economic Empowerment) Initiative, a major component of the Moving to Work Program, as well as other healthy community initiatives throughout Fairfax County.
The group determined that prior to engaging in any health programs to address the needs of affordable housing participants, a health survey was needed to understand the health status and health care needs of these participants. As a result, the group developed a health survey to be administered to a random sample of affordable housing participants. The survey is designed to identify the health needs and concerns of this population, and to compare these same needs and concerns to the general population in Fairfax County.
“HCD is very lucky to have connected to GMU CCID, who are willing to leverage their own resources to understand the health needs and concerns of our affordable housing residents,” noted Elisa Johnson, Associate Director, FCRHA Policy, Reporting and Communications Division, HCD. “This is a great opportunity to have this information so we can work with our partners in the future to address some of these needs and concerns.”
GMU CCID will begin to administer the survey in February 2018 and the results will be generated in June 2018. It is anticipated that with the results of the health survey, HCD along with its partners, will be able to help address health needs impacting families served by the FCRHA.
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